Illinois 

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ILLINOIS  ! 


BULLETIN  NO.  27,  PLATE  I 


STATE  OF  ILLINOIS 

STATE  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY 

FRANK  W.  DE  WOLF,  Director 


BULLETIN  No.  27 


GEOGRAPHY 

OF  THE 

UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

AND 

HISTORY  OF  DEVELOPMENT 

BY 

CARL  ORTWIN  SAUER 


PRINTED  BY  AUTHORITY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  ILLINOIS 


ILLINOIS  STATE  GEOLOGICAL  SURVEY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 

URBANA 

1916 


PANTAGRAPH  PTC  &  STA.CO. 


STATE  GEOLOGICAL  COMMISSION 


Edward  F.  Dunne,  Chairman 
Governor  of  Illinois 

Thomas  C.  Chamberlin,  Vice-Chairman 

Edmund  J.  James,  Secretary 
President  of  the  University  of  Illinois 


Frank  W.  DeWolf,  Director 

Fred  H.  Kay,  Asst.  State  Geologist 

R.  D.  Salisbury,  Consulting  Geologist,  in  charge  of  the  preparation  of 

Educational  Bulletins 


(  3  ) 


LETTER  OF  TRANSMITTAL 


University  of  Illinois,  September  1,  1916. 
State  Geological  Survey, 

Governor  E.  F.  Dunne,  Chairman,  and  Members  of  the 

Geological  Commission, 

Gentlemen  : — I  submit  herewith  a  report  on  the  Geography  of  the 
upper  Illinois  Valley  and  History  of  Development,  by  Carl  Ortwin  Sauer, 
and  recommend  that  it  be  published  as  Bulletin  No.  27.  The  field  work 
was  done  in  1910  under  the  general  supervision  of  Professor  R.  D.  Salis- 
bury, consulting  geologist.  At  the  time  the  work  was  done  Mr.  Sauer  was 
a  member  of  the  Department  of  Geology  of  the  University  of  Chicago.  He 
is  now  Professor  of  Geography  at  the  University  of  Michigan. 

The  present  report  is  one  of  a  series  of  educational  bulletins  which 
have  proved  very  popular  with  the  public. 

The  science  of  geography  has  advanced  rapidly  within  the  past  few 
years,  and  the  interest  of  teachers  and  laymen  is  proved  by  the  demand 
for  educational  bulletins  published  by  the  Survey.  The  present  bulletin 
will  be  of  interest  primarily  to  residents  of  the  region,  but  it  contains  a 
wealth  of  geographic  material  which  will  be  useful  to  anyone  interested  in 
nature  study. 

Very  respectfully, 

Frank  W.  DeWolf,  Director. 


(  4) 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Chapter  I. — Introduction   11 

Purpose  of  report 11 

Acknowledgments   11 

Chapter  IT.— Location  and  topography 12 

Location  of  area 12 

Location  as  determining  climate 14 

Relation  to  Central  Plains 15 

General  features  of  Illinois  Valley 1G 

Relation  to  other  drainage  lines 16 

Drainage  basin  of  Illinois  River 17 

Divisions  into  upper  and  lower  valleys 17 

Gradient 18 

Volume  of  water 19 

Surface  features  of  upper  Illinois  Valley 20 

Valley  sides 20 

Valley  floor   21 

Prairie    22 

Tributary  valleys   23 

Relation  of  topography  to  operations  of  man 24 

Concentration  of  population  in  Illinois  Valley 24 

Influence  of  the  surface  on  development  of  transportation  lines 24 

Location  of  towns 25 

Relation  of  topography  to  utilization  of  land 26 

Effect  of  topography  on  economic  conditions 27 

Chapter  III. — Description  and  history  of  the  hard  rocks 29 

Classes  of  sedimentary  rocks  and  their  origin 29 

General  processes  29 

Mechanical  or  clastic  sedimentary  rocks 29 

Organic  sedimentary  rocks 31 

Limestone 31 

Coal    31 

Special  features  of  rocks 32 

Veins 32 

Concretions 33 

Hard  rocks  of  Illinois  Valley 35 

Unexposed  rocks 35 

Exposed  rocks 35 

Prairie  du  Chien  limestone 35 

St.  Peter  sandstone   37 

Platteville-Galena  limestone   39 

Richland  limestone 41 

Niagaran  limestone   42 

Pennsylvanian  series   42 

(  5  ) 


Chapter  III. — Description  and  history  of  the  hard  rocks — continued  PAGE 

Structure  of  the  rocks 46 

General  southward  dip 46 

La  Salle  anticline 46 

Minor  deformations 48 

History  of  deposition  of  hard  rocks 49 

Pre-glacial  topography  and  its  history 51 

Character  of  bed-rock  surface 51 

History  of  pre-glacial  erosion  period 55 

Chapter    IV. — Ice    age 57 

Kelation  of  drift  cover  to  bed  rock 57 

Materials  of  drift  and  their  origin 60 

Till 60 

Stratified  drift 62 

Loess 64 

Upland   clay    66 

Surface  of  drift 66 

History  of  an  ice  sheet 66 

Manner  of  development 66 

Work  of  an  ice  sheet 68 

History  of  glaciation  in  upper  Illinois  Valley 70 

Erosive  work  of  ice 70 

Early  ice  invasions 71 

Wisconsin  glacial  deposits 73 

General   description 73 

Basis  of  subdivision  of  Wisconsin  deposits 74 

Bloomington  moraine  and  till  sheet 75 

Marseilles  moraine  and  till  sheet 76 

Late  Wisconsin  till  sheet,  Minooka  Eidge,  and  Valparaiso  moraine.  ...  78 

Morris  basin 79 

Loess    81 

Upland   clay    82 

Summary 82 

Advantages  of  glaciated  areas 82 

Smoothing  of  the  surface 83 

Contribution    to    soils 83 

Shallow   water    supplies 86 

Sand,  gravel,  and  clay 86 

Water  power 87 

Disadvantages  of  glaciated  areas 87 

Imperfect  drainage 87 

Poor  prairie  roads 88 

Slow  development  of  mineral  resources 88 

Chapter  V. — Glacial  drainage  history  of  Illinois  Valley 89 

Pre-glacial  components 89 

Existence  of  the  upper  valley  during  Wisconsin  epoch 89 

Till  on  valley  floor  above  Ottawa 90 

Glacial  grooving  on  valley  floor  below  Ottawa 91 

Peru   beds 94 

Gravels  at  Buffalo  Kock 95 

Buried  channel  of  the  Illinois  in  Morris  basin 96 

(  6  ) 


Chapter  V. — Glacial  drainage  history  of  Illinois  Valley — continued 

Existence  of  the  upper  valley  during  Wisconsin  epoch — continued  page 

Kickapoo   beds 97 

Other    evidences 98 

Summary 98 

Early  Wisconsin  period 99 

Filling  of  valley  below  Marseilles 99 

Hennepin  flat  and  sediments  in  valley  of  Bureau  Creek 107 

Ponding  of  Morris  Basin 109 

Late  Wisconsin  fhrvio-glacial  deposits 109 

Valley    train 109 

Sand  ridges 110 

History  of  aggradation Ill 

Tributary    filling 112 

Concentration  of  bowlders 113 

Summary 113 

Outlet  River 113 

Chapter  VI. — Present  active  physiographic  processes 116 

Work  of  wind 116 

Characteristics   of    deposits 116 

Making  of  dunes 116 

Shifting  of  dust 117 

Work  of  ground  water 117 

Springs  and  wells 117 

Solution  and  redeposition 119 

Weathering 121 

Work  of  streams 123 

Development  of  valleys 123 

Original  post-glacial  surface 123 

Growth   of  gullies 123 

Development  of  valley  flats   125 

Stages  of  valley  development 126 

Adjustment  of  tributaries 127 

Special  depositional  features 129 

Conditions  of  deposition 129 

Deltas  and  sand  bars 129 

Alluvial  fans 129 

Influence  of  material  on  topography 130 

Bed  rock    130 

Glacial  material 134 

Development  of  falls 136 

Variations  in  topography  of  valley 137 

Man  as  factor  in  erosion 140 

Recent  changes 140 

Erosion  increased  by  deforestation 140 

Erosion  increased  by  over-grazing 141 

Erosion  increased  by  cultivation  of  slopes 142 

Soils  most  affected 142 

Proper  use  of  steep  slopes 143 

Chapter  VII. — Settlement  and  development  of  upper  Illinois  valley 144 

Geographic  influences   144 

Indian  life  144 

(  7  ) 


Chapter  VII. — Settlement  and  development  of  upper  Illinois  valley— continued  page 

French  explorations  146 

Westward   movement   of  population 148 

Pioneers    from    South 149 

Control  of  region  by  northern  settlers 151 

Conditions  of  pioneer  life 153 

Problem  of  the  prairies 153 

Improvement  of  the  homestead 156 

Fare  of  the  pioneer 158 

Institutions  and  social  life 159 

Health  conditions 160 

Transportation    161 

Boom  days  and  their  collapse 163 

Illinois  and  Michigan  canal 167 

Construction    167 

Traffic  168 

Services  of  canal 173 

Decline  of  canal 178 

Railroad  building 181 

Original  projects 181 

Illinois  Central  Eailroad 181 

Chicago,  Eock  Island  and  Pacific  Eailroad 183 

Chicago,  Burlington  and  Quincy  Eailroad 183 

Other  railroads  184 

Periods  of  construction 185 

Influences  of  railroads  on  development 185 

Mining  and  manufacturing 187 

Coal  mining i 187 

Manufacturing 189 

Development    189 

Distribution  of  industries 190 

Eural  conditions 193 


8  ) 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


PLATE  PAGE 

I.     Panoramic  view  of  Illinois  Valley  from  Starved  Bock Frontispiece 

II.     Geologic  map  of  the  upper  Illinois  Valley 36 

FIGURE 

1.  General  location  of  Illinois  basin  and  areas  described  in  educational  bulletins.  .  13 

2.  Graph  showing  average  monthly  temperatures  and  average  monthly  rainfall  at 

La  Salle 14 

3.  Profile  showing  gradients  of  Illinois  Elver 18 

4.  Lovers'  Leap  looking  up  Illinois  Valley  from  Starved  Bock 20 

5.  Cross-sections  of  Illinois  Valley  at  Ottawa,  Peru,  Morris,  and  La  Salle  showing 

relation  of  cities  to  physiographic  features 22 

6.  Honeycombed  bed  of  Fox  Eiver  at  Dayton 32 

7.  Views  on  Au  Sable  Creek 34 

S.     Quarry  in  St.  Peter  sandstone  near  Twin  Bluffs 36 

9.     Tributary  canyon  in  Deer  Park  Glen 37 

10.  Diagrammatic  illustration  of  the  unconformable  relation  of  the  Prairie  du  Chien 

limestone  and  the  St.  Peter  sandstone 39 

11.  Diagrammatic  illustration  of  the  unconformable  relation  of  the  St.  Peter  sand- 

stone and  the  Platteville-Galena  limestone 40 

12.  Exposure  of  ' '  Coal  Measures ' '  on  Cedar  Creek 43 

13.  Diagrammatic  illustration  of  the  unconformable  relation  of  the  St.  Peter  sand- 

stone and  the  Pennsylvanian  series 45 

14.  Small  syncline  in  "Coal  Measures"  along  Big  Vermilion  Biver  below  Lowell.  .  .  48 

15.  Sketch  map  showing  the  reconstruction  of  Bock-Illinois  Valley 53 

26.     Diagrammatic  illustration  of  the  relation  of  mantle  rock  to  the  underlying  rock 

from  which  it  was  derived 57 

17.  Diagrammatic  illustration  of  the  indefinite  relation  of  soft  bed  rock  and  drift.  .  58 

18.  Glacial  till  on  Indian  Creek 60 

19.  Large  igneous  bowlder  on  South  Kickapoo  Creek 61 

20.  Sketches  illustrating  the  characteristics  of  glaciated  bowlders 61 

21.  Gravel  bed  of  coarsely  bedded  '  'high  level"  gravels  on  Cedar  Creek 63 

22.  Loess  under  gravel  on  Spring  Creek 65 

23.  Distribution  of  the  various  kinds  of  drift  in  the  upper  Illinois  Valley 67 

24.  Organic  deposits  buried  beneath  till  on  Spring  Creek 73 

25.  Folded  lake  clays  above  sand  quarry  at  Wedron 76 

26.  Kankakee-Morris  flat  as  seen  from  Minooka  Bidge 78 

27.  Valparaiso  moraine  as  seen  from  across  Desplaines  Valley 79 

28.  Lacustrine  glacial  clays  at  the  tile  works  at  Morris 81 

29.  Coal  bed  buckled  by  glacial  ice 90 

30.  Exposure  of  till  near  bottom  of  Illinois  Valley  above  Ottawa 91 

31.  Water-worn    surface   of    St.    Peter    sandstone   which    has   been    smoothed    and 

grooved  by  the  ice 92 

32.  Glacially  grooved  rock  surface  in  Illinois  Valley  at  site  of  Federal  Plate  Glass 

Company  west  of  Ottawa 92 

(9  ) 


FIGURE  PAGE 

33.  Typical  groove  in  St.  Peter  sandstone  probably  made  by  water,  but  the  present 

form  is  due  to  glacial  action 93 

34.  Eeconstruction  of  the  buried  channel  of  Illinois  River  in  the  Morris  basin 96 

35.  Waterlaid   sediments   of   glacial  age   along  Illinois  Valley  between  Marseilles 

and  Seneca 97 

36.  Gravel  pit  in    il  high-level "   gravels   south   of   Illinois  Eiver   opposite   Spring 

Valley   100 

37.  Surface  of  valley  bluff  between  Ottawa  and  Utica 102 

38.  Sketch  map  showing  distribution  of  sands  and  gravels  in  valley  of  Clark's  Run  104 

39.  Clay  balls  in  the  ' '  high-level ' '  gravels 105 

40.  Diagrammatic  cross-sketch  of  a  typical  beach  ridge  in  Morris  basin 110 

41.  Recent  fluvio-glacial  gravels  east  of  Channahon 112 

42.  Diagrammatic  illustrations  of  conditions  favorable  to  artesian  wells 119 

43.  Incrustation  of  mineral  salts  on  surface  of  "Coal  Measures"  shales 120 

44.  Cemented  glacial  gravels  south  of  Spring  Valley 121 

45.  Igneous  bowlder  containing  large  crystals  that  have  resisted  weathering 122 

46.  Very  recent  gully  in  pasture  on  Kickapoo  Creek 123 

47.  Cross-section  of  a  young  V-shaped  valley  south  of  Marseilles 124 

48.  Diagrammatic  illustration  of  the  formation  of  an  ox-bow  lake 126 

49.  Stagnant  pool  gradually  being  filled  with  vegetation 127 

50.  Sketch  map  showing  the  relation  of  the  lowest  tributary  of  Fox  River  to  the 

abandoned  channel  of  Illinois  River 128 

51.  Sketch  map  showing  the  relation  of  tributaries  of  the  Illinois  at  Starved  Rock 

Park  to  the  abandoned  channel  of  Illinois  River 128 

52.  Small  alluvial   fan 130 

53.  Lower  Falls  in  Deer  Park  Glen 131 

54.  Characteristic  view  in  sides  of  the  canyons  cut  in  the  St.  Peter  sandstone  in 

Deer  Park  Glen   133 

55.  Valley  side  in  glacial  till  along  the  Illinois  east  of  Marseilles 134 

56.  Diagrammatic  cross-section  of  a  ravine  south  of  St.  Bedes  College 135 

i>7.     Resistant  bed  of  limestone  on  Cedar  Creek  between  beds  of  soft  shale 136 

58.  Diagrammatic  illustration  of  the  relation  of  falls  to  a  hard  stratum 137 

59.  Diagrammatic  cross-sections  of  different  parts  of  the  valley  of  Clark's  Run.  .  .  .  139 

60.  Destruction  of  soil  on  a  slope  as  a  result  of  denudation  in  Fox  Valley 140 

61.  Gravel  sand  spread  over  field  on  Cedar  Creek 141 

62.  Gully  formed  in  silt  east  of  Marseilles 143 

63.  Graph  showing  chief  commodities  carried  on  the  canal  from  1849  to  1858 169 

64.  Graph  showing  tolls  collected  by  Illinois  and  Michigan  canal  from  1848  to  1907 .  .  171 

65.  Graph   showing  tons  transported  on   Illinois  and  Michigan  canal  from   1849 

to  1907  172 

66.  Canal  boat  above  Morris,  a  relic  of  bygone  days 179 

67.  Locks  at  Channahon  180 

68.  Map  showing  the  Illinois  Central  system  in  Illinois 182 

69.  Graph  showing  grain  produced  in  La  Salle,  Bureau,  and  Grundy  counties 195 


(  10  ) 


GEOGRAPHY  OF  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

By  Carl  Ortwin  Sauer 


CHAPTER  I— INTRODUCTION 

Purpose  of  Report 

This  bulletin  has  been  written  for  the  purpose  of  giving  a  non-technical 
account  of  the  geology,  physiography,  and  geography  of  the  upper  Illinois 
Valley.  The  region  is  rather  typical  of  the  great  Prairie  Plains  to  which 
the  major  part  of  Illinois  belongs  and  is  of  interest  therefore  to  many  who 
do  not  have  a  first-hand  acquaintance  with  the  Middle  West.  The  report 
is  intended,  however,  primarily  for  those  who  live  in  this  area,  for  the 
farmers  of  the  prairie,  for  those  engaged  in  the  industries  of  Illinois  Valley, 
and  for  the  teachers  and  high-school  students  of  the  upper  river  counties 
who  may  wish  to  read  the  story  that  is  written  in  the  rocks  and  soils  of 
their  home. 

Acknowledgments 

The  field  work  on  which  this  report  is  based  was  done  in  the  summer 
of  1910.  Professor  R.  D.  Salisbury  and  Professor  H.  H.  Barrows  furnished 
valuable  criticisms  and  suggestions  in  the  field.  Acknowledgment  is  due  to 
Professor  R.  D.  Salisbury  for  a  careful  ^supervision  of  the  entire  work  and 
for  the  critical  reading  of  the  manuscript.  Professor  H.  H.  Barrows  also 
revised  the  last  chapter  of  this  bulletin,  and  made  numerous  helpful 
suggestions.  To  the  many  residents  of  the  region,  who  freely  aided  me  in 
many  ways,  I  wish  to  extend  in  cordial  remembrance  my  hearty  thanks. 


(  11 


CHAPTER  II— LOCATION  AND  TOPOGRAPHY 
Location  of  Area 

The  region  with  which  this  report  is  concerned  is  the  upper  Illinois 
Valley,  located  in  north-central  Illinois,  about  four-fifths  of  the  way  from 
Ohio  River  to  the  Wisconsin  State  line,  and  midway  between  Mississippi 
River  and  the  Indiana  State  line.  Denned  in  terms  of  latitude  and 
longitude,  the  area  lies  between  meridians  88°10'  and  89°25'  and  parallels 
41°15'  and  41°30'.  The  eastern  limit  of  the  area  included  in  the  bulletin 
extends  somewhat  beyond  the  head  of  Illinois  River  (at  88°15'30"  west 
longitude,  and  41°23'30"  north  latitude).  Likewise  the  limit  on  the  west 
overlaps  slightly  the  "Great  Bend"  of  the  Illinois  (fig.  1). 

The  upper  Illinois  Valley  is  defined  for  the  purposes  of  this  report 
as  that  part  above  the  great  rectangular  bend  of  the  river  at  Hennepin. 
In  this  upper  course  the  river  flows  almost  due  west,  deviating  by  only 
about  6  degrees  to  the  south  of  this  direction.  The  northernmost  point 
reached  by  the  river  is  a  few  miles  below  its  head,  at  41°24'  north  latitude. 
A  straight  line  drawn  thence  to  the  bend  shows  the  maximum  deviation 
of  the  river  from  a  straight  course  to  be  at  Seneca,  and  this  is  a  departure 
of  less  than  5  miles.  The  east-west  direction  of  the  river  and  the  linear 
nature  of  its  valley  have  played  an  important  part  in  the  economic  develop- 
ment of  this  region.  Figure  1  shows  the  general  location  of  the  area  and 
its  relation  to  other  regions  on  which  similar  reports  have  been  issued  by 
the  State. 

In  the  area  is  included  the  greater  part  of  La  Salle  and  Grundy 
counties,  smaller  portions  of  Bureau  and  Putnam  counties,  and  very  minor 
parts  of  Kendall  and  Will  counties. 

Of  the  cities  and  villages,  Ottawa  is  most  centrally  located  and  is  the 
county  seat  of  La  Salle  County.  The  most  important  cities  of  the  western 
region  are  La  Salle  and  Peru,  a  single  city  in  all  but  corporate  limits. 
Farther  west  is  Spring  Valley,  the  largest  town  in  Bureau  County. 
Morris,  the  county  seat  of  Grundy  County,  is  the  only  important  place  in 
the  eastern  part  of  the  region. 

The  United  States  Geological  Survey  has  divided  the  region  into  six 
rectangular  divisions,  known  as  quadrangles,1  for  purposes  of  uniformity 


*0f  each  of  these  quadrangles,  a  topographic  map  (i.  e.  a  map  showing  features  of  relief, 
drainage,  and  culture)  has  been  prepared  by  the  U.  S.  Geological  Survey,  on  the  scale  of  one 
mile  to  the  inch.  These  maps  represent  clearly  and  simply  the  character  of  the  surface  of  the 
region.      The  U.  S.   Geological  Survey  distributes  them  at   10   cents  each. 

(  12  ) 


LOCATION   AND  TOPOGRAPHY 


13 


Fig.  1. — General  location  of  Illinois  basin  and  areas  described  in  educational  bulletins. 


14 


UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 


in  mapping.  Beginning  at  the  east,  the  quadrangles  concerned  are: 
Wilmington,  Morris,  Marseilles,  Ottawa,  La  Salle,  and  Hennepin.  The 
shaded  area  in  figure  1  shows  the  portions  of  these  quadrangles  which  have 
been  included  in  the  report. 

The  upper  Illinois  Valley  is  known  to  most  residents  of  Illinois  because 
of  the  Starved  Rock  State  Park,  and  the  busy  industrial  district  centering 
about  La  Salle.    It  has  also  a  distinguished  place  in  State  history  because 


11 


Fig.   2 — Graph  showing 
fall  at  La  Salle. 


average  monthly  temperatures  and  average  monthly  rain- 


of  its  role  in  the  early  settlement  of  Illinois,  and  because  the  once  famous 
Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal  terminates  within  it. 

Location  as  Determining  Climate 

The  climate  of  a  region  is  an  expression  primarily  of  the  various 
elements  of  its  location.  The  most  important  of  these  are  position  in 
latitude,  location  with  reference  to  large  bodies  of  water  and  to  mountain 
masses,  and  position  with  reference  to  prevailing  and  storm  winds. 
Position  in  middle  latitudes  a  thousand  miles  inland,  a  moderately  low 
elevation,  the  absence  of  any  nearby  highlands,  and  the  location  in  the 


LOCATION    AND  TOPOGRAPHY  15 

track  of  cyclonic  storms  that  come  from  the  west  are  the  leading  factors 
in  determining  the  character  of  the  climate  of  the  Central  Prairies,  to 
which  the  upper  Illinois  Valley  belongs. 

The  position  in  intermediate  latitudes  expresses  itself  in  fairly  long 
winter  nights  and  equally  long  summer  days,  and  in  a  sun  nearly  overhead 
in  summer  but  shining  very  obliquely  in  winter.  As  a  result,  the  seasons 
are  sharply  contrasted.  The  lengthening  of  the  day  in  the  summer  months 
is  a  factor  of  some  importance  in  accelerating  the  growth  of  vegetation. 

Interior  location  has  given  a  continental  climate  with  great 
temperature  ranges,  strong  and  shifting  winds,  and  a  moderate  rainfall. 
The  distinctness  between  the  seasons  has  thus  been  emphasized — the 
winters  are  cold  and  characterized  by  high  winds ;  the  summers  are  hot  and 
have  rain  storms  of  irregular  occurrence.  The  accompanying  graph  (fig.  2) 
shows  average  temperatures  and  rainfall  at  La  Salle  for  each  month  in  the 
year. 

On  the  whole,  the  advantages  of  such  a  climate  are  great.  It  is  well 
suited  to  the  production  of  most  temperate-zone  field  products,  particularly 
of  grains.  The  frost-free  season  of  more  than  five  months,  the  long,  hot 
summer  days,  the  abundance  of  moisture  during  the  summer  months,  and 
the  rather  sharp  lowering  of  temperatures  during  the  latter  part  of  the 
fall  provide  excellent  conditions  for  the  growth  of  Indian  corn,  the  first 
crop  of  the  State.  Droughts  come  occasionally,  but  do  not  constitute  a 
serious  agricultural  problem.  The  health  and  vitality  of  the  people  are 
favored  by  the  invigorating  seasonal  changes,  the  purifying  strong  winds, 
the  wealth  of  sunshine,  and  the  moderately  low  humidity  of  the  air. 
Climatic  extremes  are  not  so  great  that  the  activity  of  man  is  seriously 
impaired  at  any  time.  The  energizing  influence  of  the  change  of  seasons 
is  also  one  of  the  causes  of  the  thrift  and  prosperity  of  the  people.  As  in 
all  similar  latitudes,  the  need  of  growing  a  sufficient  surplus  to  tide  over 
the  non-productive  winter  season  has  stimulated  progress.  The  big  barns 
which  liberally  dot  the  prairie  landscape  and  dominate  the  cluster  of 
buildings  around  the  farm  houses  speak  not  only  of  a  sturdy  race  of 
farmers  and  of  fertile  soils,  but  as  well  of  the  long  winters  which  have 
taught  the  farmer  providence. 

Relation  to  Central  Plains 

Illinois  Valley  is  located  almost  in  the  heart  of  the  great  Central 
Plains  or  prairies.  Eastward  the  prairies  stretch  to  the  plateaus  on  the 
western  flanks  of  the  Appalachians,  westward  to  the  high  plains  that  lead 
up  to  the  Rockies.  Southward  they  merge  gradually  into  the  low  Gulf 
Plain,  and  at  the  north  the  prairie  joins  the  timbered  uplands  of  the 
northern  lakes.  In  all  directions  the  surface  features  are  very  similar  for 
hundreds  of  miles.    All  about,   the  region  is  one   of  moderate   elevation 


16  UPPER  ILLINOIS   VALLEY 

(below  1,000  feet)  ;  the  relief  is  slight,  and  the  surface  rather  monotonous 
The  characteristic  surface  shows  a  uniformly  gentle,  billowy  outline. 
Transportation  lines  cross  at  will,  supplying  rail  facilities  wherever  there 
is  sufficient  traffic.  The  prairie  region  is  belted  particularly  by  east-west 
lines  of  railways  that  connect  the  Middle  West  with  the  Atlantic  and  also 
the  Pacific  seaboard. 

Similarity  of  conditions  extends  to  more  than  surface  features.  The 
conditions  of  climate  which  have  been  traced  for  La  Salle  (fig.  2)  hold 
with  slight  variations  for  the  rest  of  Illinois  and  for  Indiana  and  Iowa. 
The  agricultural  products  are  very  similar  for  all  the  interior  prairie 
States.  All  are  poorly  supplied  with  timber  and  have,  as  their  only  great 
mineral  product,  coal. 

Because  of  this  uniformity  of  physical  conditions,  conditions  of  life 
have  also  been  similarly  uniform  throughout  the  region.  The  sameness  of 
surface,  climate,  and  resources  in  the  Central  Plains  has  meant  a  rather 
even  economic  development  in  all  parts.  The  history  of  the  settlement  and 
growth  of  the  upper  Illinois  basin  does  not  differ  in  any  large  measure 
from  that  of  the  adjacent  districts.  Provincialism  has  never  been  a 
prominent  feature.  There  is  a  stereotyped  quality  in  all  its  history, 
geologic  and  human,  to  the  present;  in  a  general  survey  it  is  essentially 
the  same  as  that  of  the  surrounding  country.  It  is  only  in  a  detailed 
study  that  uniformity  disappears,  and  that  differences  are  brought  to  light 
which  give  a  stamp  of  individuality  to  the  region. 

General  Features  of  Illinois  Valley 

relation  to  other  drainage  lines 

Centrally  located  within  the  prairie  region,  Illinois  River  is,  next  to 
the  Ohio,  the  most  important  eastern  affluent  of  the  Mississippi.  It  joins 
the  Mississippi  about  midway  between  the  source  and  mouth  of  that  stream, 
and  almost  opposite  the  confluence  of  the  Missouri  with  the  Mississippi. 
Not  far  below  the  Ohio  enters  the  Mississippi.  This  position  of  Illinois 
Valley  within  the  greatest  developed  river  basin  of  the  world  is  most 
advantageous.  It  is  located  centrally  to  a  long  line  of  waterways,  which 
stretch  from  the  gates  of  the  Yellowstone  to  the  base  of  the  Appalachians, 
and  from  St.  Paul  to  the  Gulf.  The  Illinois,  however,  derives  an  added 
importance,  because  of  all  parts  of  the  Mississippi  Basin  it  is  most 
intimately  associated  with  the  Great  Lakes.  The  outflow  from  Lake 
Michigan  at  times  during  the  Ice  Age  was  directed  down  Illinois  Valley. 
Even  now  the  headwaters  of  the  Illinois  crowd  the  watershed  between  the 
Mississippi  Basin  and  the  Great  Lakes  hard  against  Lake  Michigan. 
Occasionally  the  abandoned  glacial  channel  leading  from  lake  to  river 
becomes  flooded,  and  water  again  flows  through  it  to  the  Illinois.     Here 


LOCATION   .AND  TOPOGRAPHY  17 

then  is  an  all  but  continuous  natural  waterway  from  Lakes  to  Gulf,  which 
early  attracted  the  attention  of  men  to  its  completion. 

DRAINAGE  BASIN  OF  ILLINOIS  RIVER 

The  dotted  line  in  figure  1  encloses  the  drainage  area  of  Illinois  River. 
This  river  cutting  across  the  State  from  northeast  to  southwest,  gathers  in 
the  drainage  from  almost  half  the  State,  or  about  25,000  square  miles. 
Illinois  River  proper  has  its  source  and  mouth  within  the  limits  of  the 
State,  but  the  Desplaines  and  the  Kankakee,  which  form  the  Illinois,  and 
the  Fox  River,  which  is  the  largest  tributary  entering  its  upper  course, 
have  their  sources  outside  the  State.  The  Desplaines  rises  in  Wisconsin, 
and  the  Kankakee  in  Indiana ;  both  streams  are  marginal  to  Lake  Michigan, 
and  their  courses  are  determined  by  a  series  of  parallel  morainic  ridges 
bordering  the  lake. 

The  size  of  the  drainage  basin  has  been  estimated  at  32,081  square 
miles,1  supporting  in  1910  a  population  of  about  one  and  a  half  millions. 
Two-thirds  of  this  territory  lies  south  and  east  of  the  river,  the  shorter 
slope  of  the  drainage  basin  being  formed  by  the  watershed  between  the 
Illinois  and  the  Mississippi  rivers. 

DIVISIONS  INTO  UPPER  AND  LOWER  VALLEY 

Sixty-three  miles  below  its  head,  the  Illinois  changes  its  course  from 
westward  to  southward.  The  turning  point  is  known  as  the  "Great  Bend" 
of  Illinois  River.  Below  this  point,  the  valley  widens  so  markedly  that 
even  to  a  casual  observer  the  change  is  striking.  In  this  report  the 
upper  valley  is  considered  as  the  part  above  the  "Great  Bend." 
In  this  upper  stretch  the  average  and  rather  uniform  width  of  the  valle}' 
is  about  one  and  one-half  miles,  except  in  the  flat  Morris  basin,  where  there 
scarcely  can  be  said  to  be  distinct  valley  sides.  Below  the  bend,  as  one 
passes  Depue,  the  change  is  striking.  The  valley  sides  recede,  the  flood 
plain  becomes  two  to  five  miles  wide,  and  within  it  the  river  wanders  about 
aimlessly.  Here  and  there  the  floor  of  the  valley  narrows  abruptly  and 
re-expands  below.  In  this  lower  part,  the  width  of  the  valley  is  two  to 
four  times  as  great  as  in  the  upper  part.  Since  valleys  normally  widen 
gradually  downstream,  the  immediate  inference  drawn  from  the  sudden 
change  in  width  at  the  bend  is  that  the  lower  valley  is  of  much  greater  age 
than  the  upper  valley.  Other  features  which  distinguish  the  two  parts 
are:  (1)  the  general  absence  of  rocky  bluffs  in  the  lower  valley  and  the 
prevalence  of  them  in  the  upper  valley;  (2)  the  presence  of  great  gravel 
terraces  in  the  lower  valley,  and  their  absence  as  conspicuous  features  along 
the  upper  course;  and  (3)  the  gradient. 


1J.   W.   Hill,    in  Water   Supply  and   Irrigation    Paper    194,    p.    315.     L.    E.    Cooley  places   the 
estimate-  at   27.914  miles    (Lakes-Gulf  Waterway). 


18 


UPPER   ILLINOIS   VALLEY 


GRADIENT 

The  change  in  gradient  occurs  below  the  rapids  at  Starved  Rock,  and 
this  place  has  been  used  in  hydrographic  surveys  to  mark  a  division  of 
the  channel  into  two  parts.  The  gradient  of  the  stream  is  shown  in 
Table  1. 


Table  1. — Gradient  of  Illinois  River  for  different  parts  along  its  course 


From  head  of  Lake  Joliet — 

to  Treat 's    Island 

to  head  of   Illinois 

to  Marseilles  dam 

to  foot  Marseilles  rapids 

to  foot  Starved  Rock  rapids 

to  end  of  I.  and  M.  Canal 

to   end   of   Hennepin   Canal    (limit   of   area 

covered  in  this    report) 

to    Peoria 

to    Grafton 


istance 

Total    fall 

Fall  per  mile 

Miles 

Feet 

Feet 

6.3 

10.7 

1.70 

6.2 

7.5 

1.41 

25.4 

8.5 

0.34 

1.5 

18.6 

12.40 

14.6 

20.2 

1.30 

7.6 

1.1 

0.15 

12.9 

1.4 

0.10 

47.9 

2.0 

0.04 

167.3 

23.2 

0.14 

300       277 


Head 


Marseilles  / 

PEORIA 

Hennepin           yS 

BendQ /Starved 

Grafton           . — 

o                         

Rock 

200 


Miles 


100 


Fig.  3. — Profile  showing  gradient  of  Illinois  River. 


25 


50 


75 


Figure  3  shows  the  gradient  of  the  Illinois  in  profile.  In  the  upper 
63  miles  of  its  course  (that  portion  within  the  limits  of  the  present  report) 
the  stream  has  a  fall  of  49.8  feet.  In  the  lower  215  miles  of  its  course  the 
fall  is  only  25.2  feet.  So  low  is  the  gradient  of  the  lower  course,  that  in 
the  Mississippi  at  Grafton  have  been  reported  floods  higher  than  low-water 
level  at  Utica,  more  than  240  miles  up  the  valley.2  The  lower  valley  is 
eminently  useful  as  a  waterway,  but  entirely  unsuited  to  the  development 
of  power ;  the  upper  valley  is  capable  of  a  very  considerable  development 
of  power,  but  in  its  natural  condition  is  unfit  for  navigation. 


Collected   from    Cooley,    L.    E.,    Lakes-Gulf    Waterway 


LOCATION   AND  TOPOGRAPHY 


19 


VOLUME  OF  WATER 

In  its  unimproved  condition  the  flow  of  Illinois  River  was  so  irregular 
that  in  former  years  it  became  a  reeking  slough  in  seasons  of  drought,  and 
in  flood-time  discharged  occasionally  a  volume  of  water  forty  times  that  of 
its  normal  flow.  Extreme  low  water  has  been  reported  at  Morris,  as  from 
250  to  350  second-feet  (cubic  feet  per  second)  ;  and  at  La  Salle  633 
second-feet  have  been  measured.  The  bank-full  capacity  at  La  Salle  is 
about  20,000  second-feet.  Periods  of  extreme  drought  formerly  caused  the 
river  to  dwindle  to  a  mere  ribbon  of  water  within  its  banks.  Once  or  twice 
within  a  decade  a  maximum  of  60,000  to  67,000  feet  is  reached,  or  about 
three  times  the  bank-full  capacity  of  the  stream,  and  about  120  times  the 
average  minimum.3 

The  average  flow  of  the  stream  in  its  various  parts  is  given  in  Table  2. 


Table  2. — Average  flow  of  Illinois  JRiver  in  its  various;  parts  given  in  second-feet 


Average  low  water 

Average  high  water 

Gauge  station 

(for   three 

Ordinary 

(for   three 

driest  months) 

wettest  months) 

Head  of  Illinois 

444 

1,577 

8,424 

Mouth  of  Fox  Kiver. 

697 

2,369 

13,180 

Mouth  of  Vermilion.  . 

796 

2,820 

15,066 

Mouth  of  Illinois.  .  .  . 

1,904 

6,747 

36,045a 

aRecord  kept   from    1890-1899.      Water  from   drainage    canal    is    not 
Water   Supply   and   Irrigation   Paper   194,   p.    159. 


included   in    these    figures. 


These  great  fluctuations  of  volume  are  due  to:  (1)  The  character  of 
the  precipitation,  which  is  irregularly  distributed  through  the  year  and 
varies  greatly  from  year  to  year.  (2)  Temperature  conditions  permit  snow 
to  accumulate  through  the  winter  far  beyond  the  amount  of  precipitation 
from  any  single  rain.  The  snow  may  melt  rapidly  in  the  spring,  and  the 
run-off,  flowing  over  the  still  frozen  ground,  may  flood  the  valleys  suddenly. 
The  spring  "break-up"  is  directly  responsible  for  many  floods.  Kankakee 
River,  for  instance,  has  a  habit  of  thawing  out  before  the  ice  moves  at 
Morris,  and  ice- jams  result  which  flood  the  lowlands  about  this  city. 
(3)  The  character  of  the  soil  aids  floods.  The  soil  is  largely  clayey  and 
quite  impervious;  hence  much  water  runs  off,  and  little  sinks  in. 
Observations  made  on  the  precipitation  show  that  the  greater  part  of  the 
water  reaches  the  streams  by  rapid  run-off  and  not  by  gradual  seepage. 
With  the  exception  of  the  Morris  basin,  the  slopes  of  the  Illinois  and  the 
sides  of  the  tributaries  are  steep  and  aid  run-off.     (4)  In  the  cultivation 


3Report  of  Internal  Improvement  Commission  of  Illinois,  p.  23.  In  Claypool's  record  at  Morris, 
kept  for  56  years,  it  is  shown  that  during  20  years  the  river  was  not  out  of  its  banks;  in  the  other 
36  years  there  were  53  floods;  the  time  out  of  banks  averaged  9  days.  The  greatest  recorded  flood 
occurred  in  1892;  the  flood  was  gauged  at  Morris  as  73,730  feet;  at  La  Salle-Peru  as  93,600  feet. 
See  also  Cooley,  L.  E.,  Lakes-Gulf  Waterway,  pp.  49-51. 


20 


UPPER   ILLINOIS   VALLEY 


of  the  land,  much  of  the  timber  and  most  of  the  original  soil  cover  of 
grasses  have  been  destroyed.  Plowed  fields  with  their  well-spaced  crops 
present  no  such  check  to  the  rapid  run-off  of  water,  as  did  the  forest  cover 
and  the  matted  turf  of  the  original  prairie. 

The  floods  still  come  as  they  did  formerly,  but  periods  of  low  water 
are  no  longer  seen  on  the  Illinois  in  their  former  extremes.  The  Chicago 
Ship  and  Drainage  Canal  now  constantly  discharges  water  from  Lake 
Michigan  into  the  Illinois.  In  periods  of  normal  or  high  water  this  volume 
is  not  very  noticeable ;  but  at  low-water  stage  it  makes  up  a  great  part 
of  the  volume  of  water  flowing  down  the  upper  valley.  The  river,  which 
formerly  at  low  water  became  fouled  with  the  sewage  of  the  upper  river 
towns  and  was  seriously  impaired  in  the  use  of  its  water-power,  "is  now 


Fig.  4. — Lovers'  Leap,  looking  up  Illinois  Valley  from  Starved  Bock. 

a  comparatively  clear  stream  to  which  fish  have  returned,"  no  longer  a 
menace  to  public  health,  and  much  more  valuable  for  power  purposes  than 
formerly. 

Surface  Features  of  Upper  Illinois  Valley 


VALLEY  SIDES 

Scenic  effects  for  the  most  part  are  not  diversified  nor  grandly  massed 
in  the  prairies  of  Illinois.  To  this  statement  the  upper  Illinois  Valley  with 
its  varied  relief  presents  an  agreeable  exception.  At  its  head,  the  Minooka 
ridge  rises  northward,  whereas  to  the  south  and  west  a  broad,  low  plain 
stretches  halfway  around  the  horizon.  This  is  the  Morris-Kankakee  plain, 
a  basin  which  includes  most  of  Grundy  County.  The  river  here  flows  upon 
the  prairie  and  has  no  well-marked  banks.     At  Seneca  the  river  begins  to 


LOCATION   AND  TOPOGRAPHY  21 

sink  beneath  the  prairie,  and  valley  walls  become  well-defined.  The  slopes 
at  first  are  low  and  gentle,  and  are  farmed  or  used  for  pasturage. 
Downstream,  the  valley  sides  steepen  and  become  higher;  pastures  and 
fields  give  way  to  woods  or  brush-covered  slopes.  At  Marseilles  the  valley 
sides  are  almost  200  feet  high  and  have  become  well-defined  bluffs.  Below 
Ottawa  they  become  sheer  walls,  with  bare  rock  faces,  most  pronounced 
between  Ottawa  and  the  months  of  the  two  Vermilion  rivers.  Between 
La  Salle  and  the  "Great  Bend"  the  slopes  are  again  gentler,  and  narrow, 
discontinuous  benches  appear  upon  them  here  and  there. 

In  the  valley  are  several  large  masses  of  rock  which  have  become 
detached  from  the  bluffs  by  erosion.  The  most  conspicuous  of  these  are 
Buffalo  Rock,  Starved  Rock,  and  Lovers'  Leap  (fig.  4)  between  Ottawa  and 
Utica.  These  are  isolated  bodies  of  sandstone,  that  rise  like  towering 
fortresses  above  the  valley  floor. 

VALLEY  FLOOR 

The  width  of  the  valley  is  quite  uniformly  one  and  one-half  miles,  but 
the  surface  of  the  valley  floor  varies  much  from  place  to  place.  A  true 
flood  plain  with  broad  alluvial  bottoms  and  sloughs  has  been  developed 
only  below  Utica. 

In  the  Morris  basin  is  much  low  land  which  is  often  flooded.  From  10 
to  20  feet  above  the  flood  plain  of  the  Morris  region  lie  the  second  bottoms, 
which  are  low  extensive  terraces.  The  land  marginal  to  the  river  about  Mor- 
ris is  not  as  desirable  as  the  second  bottoms  and  other  lands  more  distant 
from  the  stream,  partly  because  much  of  the  riverward  portion  is  subject  to 
overflow,  and  partly  because  much  of  it  is  too  sandy  for  the  best  growth 
of  anything  but  truck  crops.  Below  the  Morris  basin  and  above  the  mouths 
of  the  Vermilion  rivers  the  valley  floor  consists  in  the  main  of  a  terrace 
about  40  feet  above  the  narrow  channel.  About  Seneca  this  terrace  is  level 
and  covered  with  a  deep  soil,  well  suited  to  agriculture.  Between  this 
point  and  Utica  the  floor  of  the  valley  is  in  general  irregular,  and  exposes 
at  numerous  places  bare  rock  surfaces.  Here  is  rarely  more  than  a  thin 
veneer  of  sand  or  silt  above  bed  rock,  and  because  of  the  scant  soil,  most 
of  this  part  of  the  valley  is  not  cultivated  and  is  commonly  used  for 
pasturage.  Occasionally  small  alluvial  fields  of  high  fertility  lie  beside 
stony  pastures,  where  the  meager  soil  can  scarcely  sustain  even  the 
grasses  against  the  summer  heat.  Below  Utica  the  typical  alluvial  river 
bottoms  reappear.  The  soil  is  deep  and  fertile,  but  subject  to  floods  and 
poorly  drained,  and  in  its  unimproved  condition  unfit  for  agriculture  in 
many  places.  Here  we  find  most  of  the  land  given  over  to  the  wild  growth 
of  swampy  bottoms — sycamores,  willows,  and  reeds. 


22 


UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 


PRAIRIE 

Beyond  the  bluffs  the  prairie  begins.  As  viewed  from  the  valley,  the 
bluff  line  lies  smooth  and  straight  against  the  sky  except  for  occasional 
notches  made  by  tributary  streams.  Viewed  from  the  prairie  the  valley 
appears  merely  as  a  gash  in  the  generally  fiat  surface.  In  reality  the 
bluffs  are  joined  to  the  upland  behind  them  by  a  gentle,  partially  wooded 
slope  which  rises  20  to  40  feet  in  a  quarter  of  a  mile  or  less.  The  prairie 
at  its  riverward  margin  is  160  to  200  feet  above  the  river  level  in  most 
places ;  away  from  the  valley  it  rises  gently  another  50  to  200  feet.  Figure 
5  shows  a  profile  across  the  valley  at  Ottawa  and  illustrates  the  general 
topographic  relations  for  the  region. 


640 


south  Ottawa 
600 


.450 


PERU 


630 


LASALLE 


630 


L440 


Fig.  5. — Cross-sections  of  Illinois  Valley  at  Ottawa,  Peru,  Morris,  and  La  Salle 
showing  relation  of  cities  to  physiographic  features.  Numerals  represent  elevations 
above  sea  level. 


The  prairie  of  La  Salle  and  Bureau  counties  is  typical  of  northern 
Illinois.  It  has  a  slightly  undulating  surface,  lacking  in  the  ponds  and 
swamps  of  the  country  farther  north,  yet  almost  unfurrowed  by  valleys. 
A  few  broad  ridges  interrupt  the  generally  smooth  surface:  (1)  at 
Princeton;  (2)  the  Farm  Ridge  south  of  Utica;  (3)  most  prominent  of 
all,  the  Marseilles  moraine,  part  of  which  is  known  as  the  Rutland  Hills; 
and  (4)  the  Minooka  ridge.  These  ridges  are  roughly  parallel  to  one 
another,  and  are  at  right  angles  to  the  river  valley.  Because  of  their  gentle 
slopes,  they  are  more  conspicuous  from  a  distance  than  nearby. 

This  is  part  of  the  best  agricultural  section  of  the  Middle  West — the 
famed  region  of  prairie  farms — in  which  the  upper  Illinois  country  equals 
any  section  of  this  or  adjacent  states.  Almost  every  foot  of  ground  is 
cultivated  here,  and  the  prospect  is  one  of  highly  developed  farms,  because 


LOCATION   AND  TOPOGRAPHY  23 

of  the  broad  fields,  straight  roads  that  run  with  the  cardinal  directions, 
and  scattered  farmhouses  with  well-appointed  farm  buildings  grouped 
about  them.  These  fill  the  body  of  the  scene,  and  against  the  distant  horizon 
may  stand  a  thin  line  of  trees  that  marks  the  course  of  some  prairie  stream. 
This  is  the  home  of  the  prairie  farmer,  one  of  the  finest  of  American  types. 

TRIBUTARY  VALLEYS 

The  character  of  the  drainage  of  this  region  is  in  striking  contrast 
with  that  of  southern  Illinois  or  the  Wisconsin  border.  Compared  with 
the  former  the  drainage  is  less  well  developed;  there  are  fewer  streams, 
and  these  are  shorter  and  have  fewer  tributaries.  Northward,  drainage 
lines  are  more  poorly  developed  than  in  this  region;  streams  follow 
depressions  which  they  have  not  made,  and  undrained  areas  occupied  by 
swamps  or  ponds  become  common. 

The  local  area  is  fairly  well  supplied  with  surface  drainage.  Below 
La  Salle  the  tributary  valleys  are  very  wide  for  the  size  of  the  streams  that 
flow  through  them,  and  rock  outcrops  are  few.  Spring  Creek  is  an  example 
of  this  type.  Between  La  Salle  and  Ottawa  the  tributaries  are  cut  in  rock, 
and  have  developed  canyons  that  are  striking  for  their  scenic  beauty.  Both 
the  Vermilion  river  valleys  are  tortuous  chasms  in  their  lower  courses  and 
show  picturesque  rapids  and  overhanging  rock  walls.  It  is  about  the  lower 
Vermilion  Valley  and  about  Starved  Rock  that  scenic  attractions  are 
centered  especially.  Here  each  turn  discloses  new  scenes  of  nature's 
beauty — canyons  crowned  by  a  fringe  of  cedar  and  pine  with  a  glimpse 
of  blue  sky  between,  bold  cliffs  of  rock  that  bathe  their  feet  in  shining 
pools,  and  companies  of  forest  trees  encamped  around  a  noisy  waterfall. 
The  general  effect  is  one  of  beauty,  almost  of  grandeur,  a  sight  unlooked 
for  in  its  impressiveness  in  a  prairie  region. 

At  Ottawa,  the  tributary  valleys  again  grow  wider  and  the  slopes  less 
steep.  Fox  River  valley,  which  joins  the  Illinois  at  Ottawa,  has  rather 
gently  sloping  sides,  but  almost  no  flood  plain.  It  is  much  interrupted  by 
rapids  and  was  once  made  to  drive  numerous  mills. 

The  upper  tributaries  of  the  Illinois  show  a  great  variety  of  conditions. 
Mazon  Creek  is  in  its  lower  course  a  widely  meandering  stream  with 
alluvial  banks ;  its  middle  course  is  marked  by  rapids  and  rock  wralls ;  and 
the  headwaters  again  are  sluggish  and  shallow  prairie  streams.  The 
Au  Sable  is  alternately  rapid  and  sluggish,  stretches  of  fairly  rapid  flow 
succeeding  stagnant  pools  that  are  overgrown  by  water  weeds  and  are  the 
home  of  waterfowl. 


24  upper  illinois  valley 

Relation  of  Topography  to  Occupations  of  Man 

The  various  surface  features — the  flat  upland,  the  steep-sided  valleys, 
the  alluvial  bottoms — have  affected  the  development  of  the  region  by  man. 
The  surface  has  either  invited  or  retarded  the  growth  of  population, 
according  to  the  possibilities  of  its  cultivation,  the  accessibility  of  its 
mineral  resources,  its  transportation  facilities,  and  the  character  of  its 
drainage. 

CONCENTRATION  OF  POPULATION  IN  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

Comprising  only  a  small  part  of  the  area  under  consideration,  the 
immediate  valley  of  the  Illinois  has  attracted  a  greater  population  than 
has  any  similar  area  in  this  part  of  the  State.  Every  important  city  of 
this  region  lies  within  the  valley.  The  rural  population,  however,  is  less 
dense  in  the  valley  than  upon  the  prairie,  because  of  the  low  lying  and 
ill-drained,  or  the  uneven  and  infertile  bottoms.  Towns  have  sprung  up 
in  the  valley  (1)  because  Illinois  River  served  as  the  first  highroad  by 
which  settlers  moved  into  this  country,  and  upon  which  their  early 
commerce  was  carried;  (2)  the  first  transportation  line  built,  the  Illinois 
and  Michigan  Canal,  followed  Illinois  Valley  because  it  is  the  lowest  line 
leading  west  from  Lake  Michigan;  (3)  an  early  railroad  chose  the  valley  of 
the  Illinois  for  its  route,  partly  because  a  number  of  settlements  had 
become  established  there,  but  principally  to  avoid  bridging  the  numerous 
deep  tributary  valleys  which  dissect  the  upland.  The  valley  still  possesses 
transportation  facilities  which  are  superior  to  those  of  the  adjacent  prairie 
regions. 

Chiefly  by  these  superior  advantages  of  the  valley  for  transportation, 
is  the  growth  of  its  urban  population  to  be  explained.  A  secondary  reason 
is  found  in  the  accessibility  of  its  mineral  resources.  The  principal 
exposures  of  bed  rock  and  its  mineral  wealth  are  in  the  valley  bluffs.  It 
was  along  the  valley  that  the  first  development  of  coal  mining  took  place, 
and  it  is  here  that  exploitation  of  mineral  resources  is  most  extensive  today. 

INFLUENCE  OF  THE  SURFACE  ON  DEVELOPMENT  OF  TRANSPORTATION  LINES 

The  number  and  direction  of  transportation  lines  have  been  determined 
chiefly  by  the  character  of  the  surface.  Within  the  area  under 
consideration  Illinois  Valley  presents  the  easiest  line  to  follow,  and  it  is  at 
the  same  time  the  most  difficult  belt  to  cross,  since  it  is  150  to  200  feet 
below  the  general  level  of  the  upland  and  more  than  a  mile  in  width.  It  is 
therefore  an  obstacle  to  communication  between  the  uplands  on  opposite 
sides  of  the  Illinois.  Roads,  both  rail  and  wagon,  enter  the  valley  by 
following  tributary  valleys,  thus  reducing  the  grade  of  their  descent.  The 
North  Western  and  Burlington  railroads  enter  Illinois  Valley  by  way  of 


LOCATION  AND  TOPOGRAPHY  25 

Spring  Creek,  and  the  Illinois  Central  and  Burlington  similarly  cross  by 
way  of  the  two  Vermilion  rivers.  The  wagon  roads  that  converge  at 
.Marseilles  lead  down  from  prairie  to  river  by  following  various  tributary 
valleys  about  Marseilles. 

On  the  upland,  movement  becomes  increasingly  easier  away  from  Illi- 
nois Valley,  since  the  tributary  valleys  become  shallower  headward  and  cease 
to  present  serious  obstructions  to  transportation.  Upon  the  level  prairie, 
movement  is  equally  easy  in  all  directions.  The  wagon  trails  of  the  pioneers 
ran  in  straight  lines  from  settlement  to  settlement.  One  of  these  led  from 
Ottawa  diagonally  across  to  Vermilionville ;  another  struck  southeast 
toward  Danville,  and  because  of  its  straightness  became  known  as  the 
"Danville  Air-Line."  The  best  known  of  all  of  these  pioneer  roads,  the 
' '  Chicago  Road, ' '  was  worn  deep  in  early  days  by  the  trains  of  ox  wagons 
which  sought  a  market  in  the  distant  lake  port.  This  road  runs 
northeastward  from  Ottawa  through  Danway.  Of  these  old  roads,  remnants 
only  are  left.  The  surveyor  came  soon  after  the  settler  and  laid  out  roads 
by  the  compass.  The  old  diagonal  roads  were  abandoned  for  the  most  part, 
and  the  new  ones  conformed  largely  to  the  network  of  squares  laid  out 
by  the  surveyor.  Only  those  diagonal  roads  which  had  become  most  firmly 
established  as  short  cuts  between  settlements  have  been  suffered  to  remain. 

In  the  valleys  the  roads  could  not  be  laid  out  on  section  lines,  and  here 
they  are  controlled  by  the  character  of  the  relief.  A  map  of  the  roads  of 
this  region  gives  some  idea  of  the  character  of  its  topography — on  the 
prairie,  a  rectangular  system  of  roads;  in  the  valleys,  irregular  roads 
controlled  by  the  direction  of  the  drainage. 

LOCATION  OF  TOWNS 

The  exact  location  of  villages  within  the  valley  of  the  Illinois  was 
determined  largely  by  terraces  which  furnished  room  enough  for  settlement, 
gave  easy  access  to  both  river  and  prairie,  and  were  out  of  harm's  way 
during  floods.  Below  the  mouths  of  the  Vermilion  rivers  the  terraces  of 
the  Illinois  are  discontinuous,  and  small,  so  that  favorable  sites  are  not 
numerous  in  the  western  part  of  the  valley.  Depue,  Peru,  and  La  Salle 
are  examples  of  settlements  located  on  terrace  remnants.  Between  Utica 
and  Morris  the  broad,  high  terraces  furnished  abundant  room  for 
settlements.  In  the  Morris  basin  the  lowlands  are  extensive,  and  the  city 
of  Morris  was  located  in  consequence  on  a  terrace  which  affords  reasonable 
security  from  flood  damages  (fig.  5.) 

The  growth  as  well  as  the  location  of  the  river  towns  has  been 
influenced  by  the  relations  of  river  floor,  terrace,  valley  side,  and  upland. 
Marseilles,  dependent  upon  the  rapids  of  the  Illinois,  and  located  north 
of  the  river  because  of  canal  and  rail  shipping  facilities,  had  only  a  narrow 


26  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

strip  of  land  north  of  the  river  available  for  its  expansion  and  accordingly 
grew  to  be  two  miles  long  and  only  two  streets  wide.  Several  ravines  that 
come  into  the  valley  at  Marseilles  made  it  possible  for  roads  to  ascend  to 
the  upland,  and  here  the  newer  part  of  the  city  has  been  built.  At  La  Salle 
and  Peru  the  river  has  left  above  its  broad  alluvial  floor  a  prominent 
terrace  remnant  about  60  feet  above  the  stream.  At  La  Salle,  the  terrace  is 
broader,  and  the  back  slope  gentler  than  at  Peru;  and  the  past  greater 
growth  of  La  Salle  has  been  due,  in  part,  to  the  greater  amount  of  available 
room.  Both  towns  have  long  since  outgrown  the  limited  area  of  the  river 
terrace,  overspread  the  valley  slope,  and  reached  the  prairie  beyond.  At 
present,  with  the  expansion  of  both  towns  on  the  upland,  the  only 
advantage  of  surface  left  to  La  Salle  is  the  gentler  slope  connecting  the 
upper  with  the  lower  town.  In  both  cases  the  broad,  low,  alluvial  bottom 
precluded  the  growth  to  the  southern  side  of  the  valley,  as  was  the  case  at 
Ottawa,  and  as  may  be  the  case  at  Marseilles.  In  La  Salle,  First  and 
Second  streets  occupy  the  terrace  flat.  Back  of  Second  Street 
is  a  rise  of  70  to  80  feet  to  Fifth  Street.  Beyond  Fifth  Street  the  city 
lies  upon  the  prairie.  A  similar  condition  prevails  at  Peru.  Thus  it 
happened  that  as  these  cities  outgrew  their  terraces  the  people  living  in 
the  newer  or  prairie  section  found  their  dependence  upon  the  valley  section 
inconvenient.  To  the  older,  lower  business  district  there  was  added  a 
second  business  district  on  the  hill  which  avoided  the  difficulties  of  the 
intervening  slope.  In  Peru  the  upper  business  section  has  passed  the  lower 
in  importance,  because  it  serves  the  majority  of  the  city's  population. 
Figure  5  shows  cross-sections  for  the  cities  of  Peru,  La  Salle,  Ottawa,  and 
Morris,  and  represents  graphically  the  conditions  of  surface  which,  in 
different  ways,  have  influenced  the  conditions  of  growth  of  these  places. 

In  building  on  the  slopes  of  Illinois  Valley,  artificial  terracing  has 
been  resorted  to  extensively.  The  houses  front  chiefly  on  roads  that 
parallel  the  strike  of  the  slope.  Because  the  lots  above  the  road  have  a 
more  commanding  position  than  those  below,  the  more  expensive  residences 
have  been  built  on  terraces  above  the  road,  and  humbler  houses  on  the 
unterraced  side  below  the  road. 

Because  bared  hillsides  wash  readily,  the  care  of  the  roads  early  be- 
came a  necessity,  and  excellent  macadamized  and  paved  streets  are  the  rule 
in  these  river  towns. 

RELATION  OF  TOPOGRAPHY  TO  UTILIZATION  OF  LAND 

A  great  advantage  of  the  Prairie  States  for  agriculture  lies  in  their 
surface,  the  greater  part  of  which  is  sufficiently  flat  for  cultivation,  and 
for  the  use  of  machinery  in  the  production  of  crops.  In  the  prairie 
townships  of  this  region,  almost  every  foot  of  ground  may  be  cultivated. 


LOCATION   AND  TOPOGRAPHY  27 

Farm  Ridge  and  Miller  townships  in  La  Salle  County,  for  example,  are 
made  up  almost  entirely  of  cultivated  fields. 

Near  Illinois  Valley,  the  surface  is  not  so  favorable  for  agriculture. 
Because  the  river  is  depressed  more  than  150  feet  below  the  level  of  the 
prairie,  the  riverward  margin  of  the  upland  has  become  dissected  by 
numerous  tributaries.  These  tributary  valleys,  as  well  as  the  Illinois,  have 
slopes  in  general  too  steep  for  cultivation,  except  in  the  Morris  basin.  On 
both  sides  of  Illinois  Valley,  therefore,  is  a  belt  of  timbered  land  or  of 
pasture,  varying  from  one-fourth  to  one-half  mile  or  more  in  width. 
Correspondingly  narrower  belts  flank  the  tributaries.  Beyond  the 
immediate  valley  slopes,  however,  the  upland  is  nearly  flat,  so  that  cultiva- 
tion on  the  upland  may  extend  to  the  margins  of  the  valleys.  In  the 
region  of  Starved  Rock  with  its  box-like  valleys,  the  prairie  fields  run  in 
many  places  almost  to  the  brinks  of  the  canyons. 

As  the  valleys  grow  shallower  headward,  the  amount  of  waste  land 
decreases,  so  that  the  upper  third  of  many  valleys  consists  of  cultivated 
fields  or  of  meadows.  During  the  growing  season,  some  of  these  " draws" 
on  the  prairie  are  more  readily  discovered  on  the  map  than  in  the  field,  as 
even  a  stand  of  tall  corn  may  obscure  the  shallow  depression.  The  larger 
stream  lines  may  be  accurately  followed  by  noting  the  lines  of  trees  that 
almost  invariably  follow  them.  Practically  the  only  timber  left  in  the 
region  is  in  the  valleys,  and  they  fill  accordingly  an  important  position  in 
the  agricultural  economy  of  the  prairie.4  The  larger  tributaries  furnish 
in  some  cases  limited  areas  of  farming  land  on  the  alluvial  flats  of  their 
lower  courses,  but  their  chief  uses  are  for  pasturage  and  for  timber  supply. 

In  the  valley  of  the  Illinois  is  considerable  low-lying  land  which  is 
either  marshy  or  subject  to  flood  and  has  not  been  cultivated.  The  most 
of  these  first  (lowest)  bottoms  lie  below  Utica  and  about  Morris.  The 
quality  of  the  land  is  excellent,  and  its  only  drawback  is  its  lack  of  drainage. 
It  may  be  expected  confidently  that  its  reclamation  will  take  place  within 
a  brief  period  and  will  add  an  important  class  of  lands  to  those  already 
farmed. 

EFFECT  OF  TOPOGRAPHY  ON  ECONOMIC  AND  SOCIAL  CONDITIONS 

The  character  of  the  surface  affects  the  culture  and  prosperity  of  the 
region  in  many  ways,  chiefly  through  the  conditions  of  communication  and 
of  agriculture.  The  prairie  farmer  (1)  can  put  practically  his  entire 
farm  under  the  plow  and  make  all  his  land  productive,  and  (2)  has  had 
the  drudgery  of  farming  reduced  to  a  minimum  because  he  is  able  to  use 
machinery  extensively.    The  hill  farmer,  on  the  other  hand,  (1)  can  clear 


4The  timbered  slopes  of  the  valleys  are  of  course  less  valuable  than  the  flat  surface  of  the 
prairie.  Agriculturally,  therefore,  those  townships  are  most  desirable  which  lie  far  enough  from 
the  river  to  have  a  minimum  of  dissected  surface.  In  Farm  Ridge  township,  the  farms  were  said 
in  1910  to  be  worth,  on  an  average,  $200  per  acre,  whereas  the  more  "broken"  land  marginal  to 
the  valley  of  the  Illinois  sold  for  $125  to  $150,  and  the  land  which  was  all  in  timber  for  $50  to  $75. 


28  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

only  part  of  his  land;  (2)  fields  are  small  and  uneven,  so  that  much  hand 
labor  is  required  in  the  production  of  his  crops;  and  (3)  the  soil  is  poorer 
than  on  the  prairie  and  needs  more  care  in  cultivation,  so  that  slope  wash 
may  not  remove  the  rich  surface  materials.  The  hill  farmer  must  work 
harder  than  his  neighbor  of  the  prairie  for  smaller  returns.  Prosperity 
thus  avoids  the  timbered  fringe  of  the  valleys  and  keeps  to  the  open  prairie. 
The  uneven  surface  imposes  a  handicap  upon  the  hill  farmer  in  the 
marketing  of  his  products  as  well  as  in  their  production;  he  begins  with 
a  harder  row  to  hoe,  and  ends  with  a  harder  road  to  travel  to  market. 

Socially  an  equally  great  advantage  lies  with  the  prairie  farmer.  It 
requires  less  time  for  him  to  do  an  equal  amount  of  work  than  it  does  the 
hill  farmer.  Consequently  he  has  more  leisure  than  the  latter  for  social 
purposes.  His  neighbors  are  also  nearer  and  easier  to  reach  because  of 
better  roads.  As  a  result  the  prairie  farmer  develops  by  social  contact, 
whereas  the  other  too  frequently  retrogrades  in  his  isolation.  The  lot  of 
the  average  farmer  in  this  region  is  excellent  both  as  regards  his  farm 
labors  and  his  social  opportunities.  But  even  in  this  area,  examples  can 
be  found  of  this  difference  in  condition,  illustrated  most  strikingly  by  the 
highly  developed  prairie  farms  of  Vermilion  Township,  contrasted  with  the 
isolated  backward  farms  which  are  tucked  away  in  the  be*nds  of  the 
chasm-like  Big  Vermilion  River. 


CHAPTER  III— DESCRIPTION  AND  HISTORY  OF  THE 
HARD  ROCKS 

Classes  of  Sedimentary  Rocks  and  Their  Origin 
general  processes 

Bedded  roeks  or  "rock  ledges"  may  be  seen  along  almost  every  valley 
in  this  region  and  offer  abundant  opportunities  for  studying  geologic 
history.  Well  records  and  mine  shafts  furnish  additional  information 
concerning  the  materials  underground.  The  local  geologic  record  is  of 
particular  interest,  both  because  it  shows  a  diversity  of  geologic  history 
which  cannot  be  duplicated  in  the  State,  and  because  the  life  of  the  people 
of  this  section  is  bound  up  most  intimately  with  its  mineral  resources. 

The  geologic  history  is  such  that,  with  a  little  help,  anyone  who  will 
may  read  it  in  the  characteristics  of  the  formations  of  the  bed  rock  and 
their  relations  to  each  other.  The  simple  fundamental  idea  is,  that  these 
bedded  rocks  are  deposits  of  sediment,  such  as  mud  or  sand,  which  formed 
a  very  long  time  ago,  on  land  or  under  water  became  buried  by  other 
deposits  and  were  slowly  hardened  into  rock.  The  change  of  many  of  these 
rocks  from  their  original  condition  has  not  been  great,  and  the  origin  of 
the  formations  may  still  be  seen  clearly.  There  is  no  reason  to  believe  that 
the  processes  of  the  geologic  past  differed  greatly  from  those  now  in 
operation  at  the  surface  of  the  earth.  Streams,  waves,  and  winds  were 
then  at  work  as  at  present.  It  is  necessary  merely  to  remember  that  the 
scene  of  activity  of  the  various  geologic  processes  has  been  shifted  from 
time  to  time.  Where  now  there  are  farming  lands  there  once  may  have 
been  a  shallow  sea,  and  waves  shifted  about  the  sand  which  now  appears 
in  the  sandstone  of  the  valley  sides. 

Wind,  water,  and  ice  have  acted  at  various  times  as  agents  of  deposition 
in  this  region,  but  of  these  water  has  been  by  far  the  most  important  in 
the  geologic  record.  The  work  of  water  has  consisted  partly  in  dissolving 
and  redepositing  rock  matter,  but  more  largely  in  the  mechanical 
transportation  of  sand  and  mud.  By  depositing  these  materials  in  large 
quantities  water  has  been  responsible  chiefly  in  the  formation  of  clastic 
sediments,  the  most  common  class  of  sedimentary  rock. 

MECHANICAL  OR   CLASTIC   SEDIMENTARY  ROCKS 

Most  of  the  rocks  composed  of  mechanical  or  clastic  sediments  were 
formed  by  shore  or  stream  deposition.  The  size  of  the  materials  which 
water  may  handle  depends  upon  the  vigor  of  its  movement.     The  upper 

(  29  ) 


30  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

part  of  a  stream  has,  as  a  rule,  the  most  rapid  flow.  Here  the  transporting 
power  is  generalty  great,  sand  and  silt  are  carried  easily  by  the  swift 
current,  and  gravel  only  is  lodged  in  the  stream  bed.  Even  large  stones 
at  the  bottom  are  subjected  to  vigorous  wear  by  the  incessant  pounding  of 
rock  fragments  upon  them,  and  in  time  may  be  so  reduced  in  size  that 
they  may  be  rolled  along  by  the  current.  Downstream  the  velocity  gradually 
lessens,  and  the  stream's  ability  to  carry  coarse  material  is  decreased 
correspondingly.  It  is  thus  forced  to  drop  successively  finer  and  finer 
sediments,  first  gravel,  then  sand,  and  lastly  silt.  In  its  lower  course  it  may 
be  able  to  handle  only  fine  sand  and  mud,  alternately  depositing  and 
removing  them  as  the  current  varies  in  strength  or  amount  of  load.  Some 
of  the  mud  may  be  carried  out  to  sea  and  built  into  deltas. 

Similarly  slwre  deposits  vary  according  to  the  strength  of  the  waves 
which  formed  them.  Where  the  waves  break  in  shallow  water,  and  especially 
where  they  dash  against  the  shore,  gravel  and  sand  may  be  the  most 
abundant  materials.  With  increasing  depth  of  water  the  waves  agitate 
the  bottom  of  the  water  less  and  less,  and  finer  sediment  is  shifted  about. 
From  the  shore  outward  the  sediments  commonly  grade  from  gravel  along 
the  beach,  to  fine  mud  in  the  deep  water. 

These  sediments  have  formed  three  general  sorts  of  sedimentary  rock, 
which  are  based  on  contrasts  of  texture. 

1.  The  mud  deposited  by  ancient  streams  or  seas  may  have  changed 
only  slightly  and  is  called  clay.  If  it  has  been  compressed  and  cemented 
it  becomes  shale.  Under  great  pressure,  shale  may  be  converted  into  slate, 
which  cleaves  into  thin  sheets  like  roofing  slate. 

2.  Sandstone  is  cemented  sand.  If  the  water  which  circulates  through 
the  pores  in  the  sand  carries  dissolved  mineral  matter  and  deposits  it 
between  the  grains,  the  individual  grains  become  cemented  and  sandstone 
is  formed.  If  silica  (the  substance  of  sand  itself)  forms  the  cement,  a  hard 
and  durable  sandstone  or  quartzite  is  the  result.  A  cement  of  a  lime  or 
other  carbonate,  on  the  other  hand,  is  easily  redissolved,  and  a  sandstone 
with  such  a  cement  weathers  rapidly  on  exposure. 

3.  Conglomerate  is  the  rock  equivalent  of  gravel.  It  too  may  vary 
greatly  in  compactness  and  in  its  resistance  to  weathering,  according  to 
the  kind  of  gravel  from  which  it  was  formed  and  the  degree  of  pressure 
and  the  kind  of  cementation  to  which  it  has  been  subjected.  The 
distribution  of  conglomerate  is  generally  much  more  limited  than  that  of 
the  other  clastic  sediments  because  gravel  is  deposited  less  generally  than 
either  sand  or  mud. 

Shales  and  sandstones  abound  in  this  region ;  conglomerate  on  the  other 
hand  is  rare. 


HARD  ROCKS  3I 

ORGANIC  SEDIMENTARY  ROCKS 

In  rocks  of  organic  origin,  the  agency  of  plants  or  animals  or  both  is 
essential. 

LIMESTONE 

In  the  sea  water  is  a  vast  number  of  animals,  largely  shell  fish,  which 
secrete  lime  carbonate.  When  they  die  their  remains,  consisting  largely  of 
lime  carbonate,  may  sink  to  the  bottom  and  there  accumulate  in  large  beds. 
These  beds  may  be  hardened  into  limestone.  There  are  other  ways  in  which 
limestone  is  formed,  but  this  is  the  most  common.  A  pure  limestone  signifies 
ordinarily  a  clear  sea  as  the  place  of  its  origin.  If  the  limestone  is  clayey, 
the  floor  of  the  sea  in  which  it  accumulated  was  muddied  by  the  inflow  of 
streams  or  by  the  drag  of  waves. 

COAL 

That  coal  is  derived  from  plant  remains  is  evident  to  anyone  who  has 
observed  the  imprints  of  leaves,  the  portions  of  stems,  the  woody  fiber,  and 
even  the  roots  common  in  soft  coal.  The  beginning  of  the  story  of  coal  may 
be  read  from  almost  any  swamp  or  bog.  A  body  of  quiet  water  is  required, 
into  which  little  or  no  sand  or  mud  is  washed,  and  which  is  shallow  enough 
for  the  growth  of  plants.  The  seeds  and  dead  leaves  and  stems  drop  into 
the  water  which  soon  acquires  preservative  qualities  that  arrest  decay. 
By  the  continued  accumulation  and  partial  preservation  under  water  of 
plant  matter,  peat  is  formed,  the  first  step  in  the  formation  of  coal.  The 
next  step  takes  place  by  the  burial  of  the  peat  beneath  sediments. 

But  coal  is  more  than  compressed  vegetable  matter,  for  the  vegetable 
tissues  have  suffered  chemical  changes.  The  overlying  sediments  exert 
pressure  and  shut  off  the  free  access  of  air  and  water.  As  a  result,  chemical 
changes  take  place  which  cause  the  buried  vegetation  to  give  off  gases  that 
are  combinations  of  oxygen,  hydrogen,  and  carbon,  the  principal 
constituents  of  organic  matter.  More  oxygen  and  hydrogen  are  given  off 
than  is  carbon,  so  that  the  percentage  of  remaining  carbon  increases  with 
time.  This  concentration  of  carbon  gives  coal  its  high  fuel  value.1  Com- 
pression and  loss  by  chemical  change  are  so  great  in  the  formation  of  coal 
that  the  vegetable  growth  of  at  least  3,000  to  4,000  years  is  estimated  as 
required  to  afford  material  for  one  foot  of  coal.2 

Both  coal  and  limestone  are  of  wide  distribution  in  this  region. 

aThe  process   of  burning   consists   in   the  combination  of   oxygen  from   the   air   with   the   carbon 
of  the  fuel. 

-Ashley,   Geo.  H.,   Economic  Geology,   vol.   2,   p.   47. 


32 


UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 


SPECIAL  FEATURES  OF  ROCKS 

Certain  special  features  may  be  mentioned  which  are  not  peculiar  to 
any  one  kind  of  local  rock  and  which  occur  prominently  in  several 
formations  of  the  region. 

VEINS 

Some  of  the  limestones  along  the  Vermilion  River,  particularly  at 
Oglesby,  show  irregular  bands  or  veins  of  white  crystals  (calcite)  that  run 
at  various  angles  to  the  beds  or  bedding  planes  of  the  rock.  These  veins 
are  generally  short,  and  many  of  them  are  not  connected.  The  St.  Peter 
sandstone  at  Dayton  affords  a  striking  example  of  vein  fillings :  The  river 
floor  at  that  place  has  a  peculiarly  honeycombed  appearance,  caused  by 


Fig.   6.— Honeycombed  bed   of   Fox   River   at   Dayton.     The   knife-like   ridges   are 
resistant  veins  in  the  St.  Peter  sandstone. 


knife-like  ridges  in  the  rock  which  intersect  each  other  variously  (fig.  6). 
These  ridges  are  caused  by  veins  of  harder  material  in  the  softer  sandstone, 
exposed  through  stream  erosion. 

Veins  are  the  filling  of  cracks  in  rock.  Due  to  some  strain,  a  rock 
develops  cracks  in  which  the  circulating  underground  water  deposits  some 
of  its  dissolved  mineral  material.  Ordinarily,  ground  water  circulating  in 
a  limestone  formation  fills  these  crevices  with  calcium  carbonate,   which 


HARD   ROCKS  33 

crystallizes  into  calcite;  in  sandstone  the  veins  are  commonly  of  silica  and 
very  resistant  to  weathering,  as  shown  by  the  small  ridges  in  the  St.  Peter 
sandstone. 

CONCRETIONS 

Concretions  are  to  be  seen  in  widely  varying  forms  in  practically 
every  formation,  from  the  oldest  bed  rock,  the  limestone  of  the  npper 
Prairie  dn  Chien  group  (Lower  Magnesian)  at  Utica  to  the  post-glacial 
clays  found  along  the  Illinois  Valley.  Figure  7  shows  concretions  which 
have  weathered  out  in  the  bed  of  the  Au  Sable  Creek,  immediately  above 
the  aqueduct.  The  rock  in  which  they  occur  is  a  sandstone  containing 
many  shining  flakes  of  mica;  the  concretions  consist  of  a  groundmass  of 
plates  of  calcite  in  which  are  set  grains  of  sand  and  plates  of  mica.  In 
these  concretions  the  materials  of  the  sandstone  have  been  replaced  largely 
by  calcium  carbonate  (calcite).  They  range  from  a  spherical  to  a  flattened, 
disc-shaped  form,  and  occasionally  are  twin  groivths. 

Some  of  the  most  famous  concretions  of  the  country  are  from  Mazon 
Creek.  They  are  flattened,  elliptical  bodies  of  a  hard  iron-bearing  shale, 
imbedded  in  a  soft  clay  shale.  The  nucleus  about  which  these,  concretions 
formed,  consists  of  parts  of  plants  or  animals  that  chanced  to  be  buried  in 
the  Carboniferous  mud.  Fern  leaves  or  bits  of  bark  are  the  most  common 
nuclei,  but  occasionally  insects,  small  fishes,  and  other  material  have  had 
these  concretionary  forms  cased  about  them.  The  perfection  of  their 
preservation,  to  the  minutest  and  most  delicate  detail,  is  marvelous.  The 
shape  of  the  nodules  corresponds  somewhat  to  the  form  of  the  enclosed 
leaf  or  animal. 

In  chemical  composition,  concretions  are  commonly  unlike  the 
formation  in  which  they  are  found :  The  Prairie  du  Chien  limestone  carries 
concretions  of  silica  (chert)  ;  in  the  St.  Peter  sandstone,  the  concretions 
are  composed  of  iron  compounds  (largely  pyrite  or  iron  oxides)  ; 
"ironstones"  are  most  common  in  the  "Coal  Measures"  clays,  and  pyrite 
in  coal ;  the  concretions  in  the  Carboniferous  sandstones  are  mostly  calcium 
carbonate. 

Concretions  are  formed  after  the  deposition  of  the  material  in  which 
they  are  imbedded,  chiefly  by  the  action  of  ground  water,  which  by  selective 
solution  and  deposition  of  the  minor  constituents  of  a  formation  tends  to 
segregate  these  ' '  impurities. ' '  About  a  convenient  nucleus  the  circulating 
waters  deposit  a  film  of  some  mineral,  continuing  the  process  and  building 
ever  larger  concentric  layers  about  the  older  films,  until  a  concretion  is 
developed.  This  process  may  go  on  until  the  most  of  a  minor  mineral  of  a 
formation  is  extracted  from  the  main  mass,  and  assembled  in  these 
concretions. 


34 


UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 


Fig.  7. — Views  on  An  Sable  Creek  above  the  aqueduct  of  the  Illinois  and  Michigan 
Canal.  The  bed  of  the  creek  is  here  covered  with  disc-shaped  and  spherical  concretions 
originally  contained  in  the  soft  Carboniferous  sandstone  and  left  behind  when  stream 
erosion  removed  the  sandstone 


hard  rocks  35 

Hard  Rocks  of  Illinois  Valley 

unexposed  rocks 

By  erosion  and  deposition  continued  through  many  millions  of  years 
the  earth  has  beeome  mantled  generally  with  sediments  of  great  variety, 
which  are  disposed  in  rather  orderly  succession,  and  record  within 
themselves  the  past  history  of  the  region.  The  oldest  formation  definitely 
known  to  exist  beneath  this  region  is  not  exposed  at  the  surface  within  the 
limits  of  the  State.  Its  presence  is  known  through  deep-well  drillings  only. 
By  this  method  it  has  been  located  in  the  eastern  portion  of  the  upper 
Illinois  Valley  where  the  rock  formations  lie  at  a  higher  elevation  than 
farther  west.  Hence  the  older  and  deeper-lying  formations  are  more  easily 
reached  by  borings  at  the  east  than  at  the  west.  This  completely  buried 
formation  is  the  Potsdam  sandstone.  It  has  been  located  at  Ottawa,  at  a 
depth  of  about  1,100  feet.  The  rock  is  porous  and  carries  a  great  amount 
of  water.  It  comes  to  the  surface  in  central  Wisconsin  and  is  a  prolific 
source  of  water  for  many  deep  wells  in  the  southeastern  part  of  that  State, 
as  well  as  in  northeastern  Illinois. 

EXPOSED  ROCKS 
PRAIRIE   DU    CHIEN    GROUP 

The  Prairie  du  Chien  group  (formerly  known  as  the  "Lower 
Magnesian"  limestone)  comprises  the  oldest  formation  which  appears  at 
the  surface  in  Illinois.  Its  largest  area  of  outcrop  is  in  this  region, 
distributed  in  three  principal  localities  (PL  II).  The  thickness  of  this 
formation  is  several  hundred  feet. 

The  most  extensive  of  these  is  a  belt  about  two  and  a  half  miles  wide 
between  Utica  and  Split  Rock.  Its  eastern  limit  coincides  with  the  eastern 
limit  of  the  village  of  Utica.  Westward  it  rises  to  the  prairie  beyond  the 
northern  bluff  of  the  valley.  Southward  it  crosses  the  river  a  short  distance 
below  the  Utica  bridge.  Along  the  lower  Pecumsaugan  Creek  it  outcrops 
rather  extensively  on  the  upland.  A  few  hundred  feet  east  of  Split  Rock, 
the  formation  dips  beneath  the  St.  Peter  sandstone,  and  disappears  under 
the  floor  of  the  valley. 

The  second  outcrop  is  on  Tomahawk  Creek,  a  tributary  of  the  Little 
Vermilion  River.  This  outcrop  is  intersected  by  the  road  which  crosses 
the  creek  half  a  mile  north  of  Mitchel  School.  It  is  confined  almost  entirely 
to  the  floor  and  sides  of  the  valley  and  is  exposed  for  a  distance  of  slightly 
more  than  half  a  mile.  A  similar  outcrop  occurs  on  Little  Vermilion  River 
northwest  of  the  one  mentioned  above.  These  three  outcrops  form  a 
straight  line  running  somewhat  west  of  north  to  east  of  south. 

The  Prairie  du  Chien  is  one  of  the  great  limestone  formations  of  the 
Middle  West.     It  is  well  known  locally  because  of  its  beds  of  hydraulic- 


36 


UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 


cement  rock.  It  is  not  common  limestone  (calcium  carbonate),  but  a 
magnesian  limestone  (calcium  magnesium  carbonate)  called  dolomite. 
Dolomites  are  harder  and  more  resistant  to  weathering  than  true  limestones. 
A  little  clay  is  present  very  generally  in  the  Prairie  du  Chien  limestone  as 
an  impurity,  and  here  and  there  is  also  some  sand.  In  its  upper  part 
the  formation  contains  thin  beds  of  quite  pure  sand,  alternating  with  beds 
of  limestone  which  have  little  or  no  sand.  In  its  lower  exposed  parts  sand 
is  almost  absent,  and  the  formation  consists  of  massive  dolomite,  either 
clayey  or  pure.     The  color  of  the  limestone  in  fresh  exposures  is  a  dull 


Fig.  8. — Quarry  in  St.  Peter  sandstone  near  Twin  Bluffs. 


drab.  Weathered  surfaces  have  a  slightly  buff  color  on  account  of  the  iron 
which  has  been  oxidized  where  the  stone  has  been  exposed  to  the  air.  The 
presence  of  iron  in  any  formation  is,  as  a  rule,  readily  betrayed  by 
weathering,  as  iron  compounds  soon  oxidize  (rust)  and  become  brownish 
yellow. 

The  Prairie  du  Chien  limestone  is  characterized  by  a  lack  of  persistent 
qualities.  Variations  of  mineral  composition  are  shown  by  the  very 
irregular  surface  which  the  dolomite  develops  on  weathering,  due  to  the 
unequal  solubility  of  its  various  parts.  It  is  variously  thick  and  thin 
bedded ;  some  beds  may  be  a  dozen  feet  thick,  others  are  mere  laminae  a 
dozen  of  which  may  not  exceed  a  foot  in  thickness.     Where  rather  pure, 


4         3  2  1  O 


Scale 


K>Mil^« 


I  8kC0    BALTIMORE, Ml 


Prairie  du  Chien  group 
(Lower  Magnesian  formation) 

(Massiw  magnesian  limestone  carry- 
ing a  little  clay  and  sand  as  impurities; 
in  the  upper  part  distinct  thin  beds 
of  sand  are  present) 


HARD   ROCKS  37 

it  is  finely  crystalline  in  texture,  but  this  quality  disappears  with  an  increase 
of  clay.  One  of  its  most  striking  features  is  its  beds  of  concretionary 
chert,  which  is  siliceous  matter,  akin  to  flint.  The  formation  is  highly 
concretionary,  and  most  of  the  concretions  are  segregated  into  rather 
distinct  layers.  Many  of  the  cherts  are  8  to  12  inches  in  diameter  and  if 
broken  through,  show  beautiful  banding  due  to  concentric  deposition. 


Fig.  9. — Tributary  canyon  in  Deer  Park  Glen.  This  small  canyon,  like  the  larger 
ones  about  it,  is  cut  in  St.  Peter  sandstone.  It  shows  the  unequal  erosion  of  the  sand- 
stone, and  in  its  caldron  the  light  streaks  indicate  the  deposition  of  soluble  salts,  chiefly 
magnesium  and  calcium  carbonate,  leached  from  the  cement  of  the  sandstone. 


ST.  PETER   SANDSTONE 


Next  in  the  geological  series  is  the  nonfossiliferous  St.  Peter  sandstone, 
which  lies  above  the  Prairie  du  Chien  limestone  and  ranges  from  140  to 
200  feet  in  thickness.  Its  area  of  surface  exposures  within  the  State  is 
almost  as  small  as  that  of  the  preceding  formation,  and  most  of  its  outcrops 
are  disposed  marginally  about  the  outcrops  of  the  older  formation.  In 
this  region  the  western  limit  is  Split  Rock,  two  and  a  half  miles  east  of 


38  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

La  Salle,  and  thence  it  extends  across  to  a  similar  point  on  the  south  side 
of  the  valley.  South  of  the  river  the  outcrop  does  not  rise  above  the  bluff 
line.  Northward  it  occurs  as  the  surface  formation  beneath  the  upland 
prairie  from  Little  Vermilion  River  eastward  to  Clark's  Run.  East  of 
Utica  its  surface  declines  rapidly.  In  Ottawa  it  is  slightly  above  the  level 
of  the  canal,  and  a  mile  and  a  half  to  the  east  it  dips  beneath  the  floor  of 
the  valley.  In  the  Fox  Valley  the  formation  is  exposed  at  the  surface,  with 
slight  interruptions,  far  beyond  the  area  covered  by  this  report.  A  small 
isolated  outcrop  has  been  exposed  in  Deer  Park  Glen. 

The  St.  Peter  sandstone  is  characterized  by  a  striking  uniformity  of 
qualities.  It  is  throughout  a  sandstone  of  unusual  purity.  The  well- 
rounded  sand  grains  are  fine,  generally  of  dazzling  whiteness  in  fresh 
exposures,  and  almost  without  admixture  of  clay,  the  absence  of  which 
makes  it  valuable  for  the  manufacture  of  glass.  Cementation  has  commonly 
been  slight  so  that  the  freshly  exposed  sandstone  may  be  freely  worked  with 
pick  and  shovel.  Figure  8  shows  a  characteristic  exposure  of  the 
sandstone  with  accumulations  of  loose  sand  at  the  base  of  the  pit.  The 
cementing  material  is  most  commonly  silica;  but  in  places  a  little  iron 
oxide,  and  more  rarely  calcium-magnesium  carbonate,  is  present.  Figure 
9  shows  white  stains  in  the  caldron  at  the  base  of  the  falls.  This  is  mostly 
silica  and  calcium  magnesium  carbonate  which  has  been  leached  out  of  the 
cement  of  the  sandstone.  Locally  there  are  distinct  veins  of 
the  sandstone,  and  in  veins  a  little  sand  is  included.  The  veins 
are  of  quartz,  and  where  the  sand  is  included  in  them  the  vein  looks 
something  like  quartzite.  On  Lower  Buck  Creek  above  Wedron  an  unusual 
and  beautiful  form  of  cementation  may  be  seen.  The  sand  is  here  cemented 
by  iron  sulphide  (pyrite),  and  the  blue-gray  quartz  grains  set  in  the 
glinting  gold-colored  pyrite  flash  like  precious  gems.  The  water  which 
comes  from  the  St.  Peter  sandstone  is  heavily  charged  with  sulphureted 
hydrogen  from  the  decomposition  of  the  pyrite.  A  well  penetrating  to 
this  sandstone  may  be  recognized  almost  unmistakably  by  the  sulphurous 
taste  of  its  water.  Concretions,  although  rather  common,  are  inconspicuous. 
They  generally  contain  more  iron  oxide  than  the  body  of  the  rock,  and  by 
reason  of  their  superior  resistance  and  darker  color,  they  are  conspicuous 
on  weathered  surfaces  as  irregular  reddish-brown  knobs.  They  may  be 
seen  on  Starved  Rock. 

On  Tomahawk  Creek  the  contact  between  the  Prairie  du  Chien 
limestone  and  the  overlying  St.  Peter  sandstone  (fig.  10)  shows:  (1)  that 
with  uniformly  dipping  beds  the  line  of  contact  between  the  two  formations 
varies  considerably  and  irregularly  in  elevation.  (2)  On  close  examination 
of  the  surface  the  contact  shows  an  irregular  line  separating  the  two 
formations ;  at  one  place  this  line  departs  from  the  dip  9  inches  vertically 
within  a  horizontal  distance  of  two  feet.     (3)    At  the  contact  may  be 


HARD   ROCKS 


39 


observed  in  places  loose  cherts  and  blue,  noncalcareous  clay,  the  products  of 
long  weathering.  (4)  The  two  formations  are  quite  distinct  at  the  plane 
of  contact;  the  Prairie  du  Chien  below  is  typical  dolomite;  the  St.  Peter 
above  as  typical  a  sandstone.  There  is  no  gradation.  The  phenomena 
mentioned  under  (1),  (2),  and  (3)  record  an  interruption  in  the  process 
of  sedimentation,  known  as  unconformity,  and  the  fourth  point  is 
consistent  with  the  other  three.  The  general  relation  is  shown  by  figure  10  ; 
a  conformable  relation  is  shown  in  figure  12.  In  the  conformable 
relationship,  the  change  from  the  deposition  of  one  kind  of  sediment  to 


OT 


C_n 


Uower  Magnesian  limestone 

7K~ 


Fig.   10. — Diagrammatic     illustration     of     the     unconformable     relations     of     the 
Prairie  du  Chien   ("Lower  Magnesian")   limestone  and  the  St.  Peter  sandstone. 

another  was  gradual,  and  there  was  no  break  in  sedimentation.  The 
unconformable  relationship  indicates  that  after  deposition  of  the  older 
formation  sedimentation  was  stopped,  the  surface  was  eroded,  and  the 
products  of  weathering  accumulated  before  later  beds  were  deposited  upon 
the  older  formation.  Similar  evidence  of  an  unconformity  between  the 
Prairie  du  Chien  and  the  St.  Peter  may  be  secured  in  abundance  along 
Illinois  Valley,  particularly  in  the  second  ravine  east  of  Split  Rock. 


PLATTEVILLE-GALENA  LIMESTONE 


The  Platteville-Galena  limestone  (formerly  called  the  "Trenton- 
Galena"  limestone)  is  a  general  name  used  for  the  Middle  Ordovician 
limestone  which  includes  both  the  Galena  (now  correlated  exactly  with  the 
Trenton  proper)   and  the  somewhat  older  Platteville  limestone. 


40  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

The  distribution  of  this  formation,  for  causes  to  be  noted  later,  is 
irregular.  Many  of  the  outcrops  are  too  small  to  be  shown  on  the  sketch 
map  (PL  II).  The  three  principal  districts  where  this  formation  outcrops 
in  this  region  are  (1)  along  the  line  of  the  Vermilion  rivers,  notably  at 
Deer  Park  and  on  the  Little  Vermilion  about  Troy  Grove;  (2)  in  the 
vicinity  of  Ottawa,  including  a  broad  outcrop  on  the  valley  floor  west  of 
Ottawa,  and  a  narrow  area  occupying  the  valley  of  lower  Covel  Creek ;  and 
(3)  an  obscurely  defined  area  east  of  Morris  on  Au  Sable  Creek. 

The  thickness  of  the  formation  is  more  variable  than  that  of  any  other 
formation  exposed  in  this  region.     Over  a  considerable  part  of  the  area 


Platteville-Galena 
limestone 


•  St.  Peter  sandstone 


Fig.  11. — Diagrammatic  illustration  of  the  unconformable  relation  between  the  St. 
Peter  sandstone  and  Platteville-Galena   (''Trenton")   limestone. 

underlain  by  formations  younger  than  St.  Peter  sandstone,  it  is  wanting 
entirely,  whereas  the  two  older  formations  are  present  everywhere  beneath 
the  beds  of  later  age.  Especially  to  the  west,  it  is  in  irregular  remnants 
of  slight  thickness  between  the  St.  Peter  sandstone  and  the  Pennsylvanian 
series  ("Coal  Measures"),  or  else  is  missing.  In  most  of  these  patches  it 
is  not  more  than  20  to  50  feet  thick.  Westward  and  southward  it  thickens 
considerably  and  it  is  also  more  persistent.  At  Lowell  it  has  been  reported 
about  200  feet  thick,  at  Marseilles  it  is  56  feet  thick,  and  the  Chicago,  Rock 
Island,  and  Pacific  Railway  well  at  Morris  records  a  thickness  of  200  feet. 

The  Platteville  in  this  region  is  a  limestone  formation.  The  color  is 
commonly  a  light  drab,  which  changes  to  buff  on  weathering.  Its  texture 
is  finely  to  moderately  crystalline.  On  Au  Sable  Creek  the  lower  part  of 
the  formation  is  gray,  crystalline  limestone  containing  large  plates  of 
calcite  and  disseminated  particles  of  zinc  blende  and  pyrite,  appearing  as 
shining  metallic  spots  in  exposed  faces.  Perhaps  the  most  distinctive 
feature  of  the  limestone  is  its  unusual  hardness,  which  has  given  to  it 
unfavorable  notoriety,  particularly  among  well  drillers.     As  it  is  of  quite 


HARD   ROCKS  41 

uniform  composition,  it  weathers  very  evenly.  Thin  films  of  clay 
between  beds  of  purer  limestone  cause  it  to  weather  into  thin  slab-like 
layers,  whereas  in  fresh  cuts  it  appears  massive.  The  formation  carries 
abundant  fossils,  but  these  are  confined  mostly  to  certain  beds.  Among 
the  fossils  the  shells  of  brachiopods  and  the  cylindrical  stems  of  crinoids 
are  most  abundant. 

The  Platteville  rests  unconformably  upon  the  St.  Peter  sandstone.  In 
Deer  Park  Glen,  immediately  above  the  falls,  a  good  exposure  may  be 
seen,  which  shows  the  contact  as  an  irregular  wavy  line.  Again  at  the 
Federal  Plate  Glass  Company's  plant  west  of  Ottawa  and  on  Covel  Creek, 
the  unconformity  is  well  shown.  In  this  section  the  Platteville-Galena  lies 
in  depressions  in  the  St.  Peter  sandstone.  A  cross-section  on  Covel  Creek 
is  represented  diagrammatically  in  figure  11,  which  shows  outcrops  of 
St.  Peter  sandstone  rising  well  above  the  strip  of  Platteville-Galena 
limestone  whieh  they  enclose.  The  uneven  base  of  the  Platteville-Galena 
may  also  be  seen  along  the  bank  of  the  Illinois  opposite  the  mouth  of 
Covel  Creek. 

RICHMOND  LIMESTONE 

The  next  younger  formation  of  this  region,  the  Kiehmond  limestone, 
is  the  surface  formation  in  the  extreme  eastern  part  of  the  area.  It  is 
wanting  between  Morris  and  La  Salle,  but  at  La  Salle,  it  is  again  found 
far  beneath  the  younger  "Coal  Measures."  East  of  Morris,  between 
Morris  and  Au  Sable  Creek,  it  is  covered  by  a  slight  thickness  of  the  ' '  Coal 
Measures."  The  westernmost  outcrop  is  on  Au  Sable  Creek,  almost 
directly  above  Sand  Ridge.  Thence  outcrops  continue  up  the  Au  Sable 
far  into  Kendall  County.  Southward  it  outcrops  widely  on  the  valley  floor 
between  the  canal  and  the  river  and  again  south  of  the  river.  At  Goose 
Lake  the  line  of  outcrop  bends  sharply  to  the  east  and  thence  loops  back 
to  a  point  about  a  mile  below  the  head  of  the  Illinois.  The  country  here 
is  flat  and  outcrops  are  few  and  indistinct. 

As  exposed  within  this  area,  the  Richmond  limestone  consists  of  the 
eroded  remnants  of  a  formation  which  was  later  buried  by  "Coal 
Measures."  Its  thickness  is  therefore  very  irregular  and  slight,  compared 
with  its  development  east  of  this  region. 

The  Richmond  limestone  is  the  only  member  of  the  Cincinnatian  series, 
recognized  in  outcrops  in  this  region.  (Cincinnatian  is  a  group  name  for 
the  upper  part  of  the  Ordovician  system.)  The  formation  is  rather  uniform 
in  its  characteristics — massive,  coarsely  crystalline,  and  high  in  iron 
content,  "When  fresh  the  stone  is  hard,  but  it  weathers  rapidly  into  thin 
beds  and  assumes  a  granular  appearance  because  of  its  coarse  texture. 
This  formation  is  by  far  the  richest  in  fossils  of  any  in  the  region ;  fossils 
in  great  number,  variety,  and  range  of  size,  crowd  its  beds. 


42  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

The  Richmond  beds  doubtlessly  rests  unconformable  on  the  underlying 
Platteville,  though  no  contact  has  been  seen  in  the  region.  It  is  known, 
however,  that  several  formations  of  intermediate  age  are  missing,  and  this 
absence  records  a  break  in  deposition. 

NIAGARAN  LIMESTONE 

The  Niagaran  limestone  does  not  outcrop  in  this  area,  but  is  prominent 
to  the  east.    West  of  La  Salle  the  limestone  is  reported  in  well  drillings. 

PENNSYLVANIAN   SERIES 

In  each  of  the  formations  described  above,  a  distribution  marginal  to 
that  of  the  next  older  formation  is  to  be  noted  (PL  IV).  As  one  goes 
toward  the  vicinity  of  Utica  from  either  east  or  west  the  younger  forma- 
tions disappear  successively,  and  older  ones  come  to  the  surface  in  their 
places.  Lying  over  parts  of  all  the  formations  mentioned  heretofore,  are 
the  Pennsylvanian  series  of  strata  belonging  to  the  Carboniferous  period. 
This  series  is  commonly  termed  the  ' '  Coal  Measures. ' ' 

With  the  exception  of  narrow  belts  restricted  almost  wholly  to  valleys, 
the  "Coal  Measures"  underlie  the  entire  area  west  of  Au  Sable  Creek. 
The  relations  to  the  older  formation  are  shown  by  the  cross-section  on 
Plate  II.  East  of  this  region  the  "Coal  Measures"  outcrop  in  a  narrow, 
irregular  belt  in  the  valley  of  Dupage  River.  The  northern  limit  does  not 
extend  beyond  La  Salle  County,  but  the  formation  has  a  great  extent  west 
and  south.  ;  |jj  ~, 

The  "Coal  Measures"  of  this  region  were  deposited  in  an  extensive, 
shallow  basin,  the  long  axis  of  which  stretches  southeastward  from 
La  Salle  to  the  mouth  of  the  Wabash.  The  beds  dip  toward  this  axis  except 
where  they  have  been  deformed,  and  toward  this  axis  the  formation 
thickens.  At  Morris  (on  the  rim  of  the  basin)  it  is  only  64  feet  thick;  in 
La  Salle  County  (near  the  axis)  the  maximum  thickness  is  reported  at  570 
feet;  in  Bureau  County,  west  of  the  axis,  the  formation  varies  from  250 
to  400  feet  in  thickness.  The  great  variations  in  thickness  are  the  result 
(1)  partly  of  the  unequal  deposition  in  a  great  basin  made  up  of  several 
minor  basins,  so  that  the  original  thickness  was  variable;  (2)  partly  of 
unequal  erosion  or  removal  of  unequal  amounts  from  different  parts  of  the 
area  during  the  long  period  of  exposure  at  the  surface. 

One  of  the  most  striking  characteristics  of  the  ' '  Coal  Measures ' '  is  that 
almost  all  sediments  are  repeated  again  and  again  in  any  considerable 
vertical  section.  Figure  12  shows  the  following  succession  of  beds  on 
Cedar  Creek:  (1)  shale,  (2)  coal,  (3)  shale,  (4)  limestone,  (5)  shale, 
(6)  coal,  (7)  shale  (overlain  by  drift.)  Not  only  do  vertical  sections  of 
the  ' '  Coal  Measures ' '  vary  greatly,  but  most  beds  vary  horizontally  within 


HARD   ROCKS 


43 


short  distances,  both  as  to  thickness  and  kinds  of  rock.  The  basal  beds  in 
some  places  are  sandstone,  and  in  others  clay  as  at  Lowell,  where  potter's 
clay  is  found  below  coal  No.  2.  Above  the  ox-bow  of  Mazon  Creek  these 
horizontal  changes  are  well  shown:   (1)  At  the  ox-bow,  at  the  base  of  the 


Fig.  12. — Exposure  of  "Coal  Measures"  on  Cedar  Creek.  This  section  shows  well 
the  variety  of  strata  in  the  ' '  Coal  Measures " :  a,  shale ;  b,  coal ;  c,  shale ;  d,  limestone ; 
e,  shale;  /,  coal;  g,  shale;  and  h,  cover  of  glacial  drift. 


bluff,  is  a  shaly  limestone,  upon  which  lies  soft,  blue  clay,  and  upon  this, 
a  thin  sandy  shale.  (2)  Upstream  the  blue  clay  becomes  shaly,  and  the  shales 
grade  into  sandstones.  (3)  Farther  on  all  give  way  to  sandstone. 
(4)  Upstream  again  this  sandstone  becomes  a  sandy  shale,  and  (5)  finally 
in  the  shale  thick  beds  of  blue  clay  appear  over  thin  beds  of  impure 
limestone. 

Coal  beds  vary  greatly  in  thickness  within  short  distances;  above  the 
Farm   Ridge   crossing   of   Big  Vermilion    River,    may   be    seen   a   sandy 


44  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

bituminous  shale  which  stains  the  water  with  oil.  Southward  this  bed 
develops  into  a  workable  coal  seam.  From  these  widespread  and 
irregular  variations  it  is  judged  that  the  beds  were  deposited  under  very 
unstable  and  variable  conditions. 

In  spite  of  these  variations,  sediments  in  the  "Coal  Measures"  show 
characteristics  which  set  them  off  from  other  formations.  The 
Carboniferous  sandstones  are  distinguished  from  all  other  sandstones  of 
the  region  by  the  flakes  of  shining  mica  and  the  small  crystals  of  calcite 
which  they  carry.  The  sandstone  varies  from  very  shaly  phases,  as  found 
on  Mazon  Creek,  to  a  freestone  used  for  building  purposes,  as  on  lower 
Au  Sable  Creek.  The  sandstone  is  cross-bedded  (thin  beds  at  an  angle  with 
the  main  bedding  planes,)  in  places  so  sharply  as  to  appear  deformed. 
The  best  development  of  the  sandstone  is  along  the  margins  of  the 
old  basin,  particularly  about  Morris,  where  it  appears  that  sand  was 
accumulating  at  the  same  time  that  clay  was  being  deposited  in  deeper 
water  to  the  south  and  west. 

The  clays  and  shales  likewise  bear  a  strong  resemblance  to  each  other 
throughout  the  series.  At  certain  horizons  they  are  the  most  persistent 
members  of  the  series.  The  texture  is  in  many  places  marvelously  smooth, 
particularly  that  of  the  fire  clays  which  are  almost  without  grit,  and 
become  plastic  when  wet.  Good  exposures  of  thinly  cleaving  (slaty) 
shales  may  been  seen  on  the  Big  Vermilion  below  Lowell.  Other  phases 
are  represented  in  various  places.  Pyrite  is  found  in  the  fire  clays.  As  a 
result  the  fire-brick  companies  prefer  to  use  the  clays  near  the  surface, 
from  which  the  pyrite  has  been  removed  by  oxidation  and  leaching. 

Concretions  are  very  prominent  in  the  "Coal  Measures."  Near  the 
mouth  of  Tomahawk  Creek,  the  creek  bottom  is  covered  by  large,  generally 
flattened,  concretions.  Most  of  them  are  at  least  three  times  as  long  as 
wide,  and  many  reach  6  feet  in  diameter.  The  concretions  are  peculiar  in 
that  they  are  crossed  by  several  sets  of  radial  cracks,  which  break  up  their 
surfaces  into  rude  geometrical  forms  (trapezoids).  The  cracks  are  filled 
with  colored  crystals,  composed  largely  of  calcium  carbonate,  or  with  shaly 
matter  harder  than  the  body  of  the  concretion.  These  concretions  are 
known  as  septaria,  and  were  formed  by  the  cracking  of  the  concretions 
subsequent  to  their  formation,  and  the  filling  of  the  cracks  with  mineral 
matter  deposited  from  solution,  forming  veins.  Septaria  may  be  seen  at 
Lowell  and  on  some  of  the  eastern  affluents  of  the  Fox.  The  widely 
distributed  ironstone  concretions,  often  of  fantastic  shape,  and  the  fern- 
concretions  of  Mazon,  also  belong  here. 

Limestones  are  developed  extensively  in  the  upper  part  of  the 
"Coal  Measures"  only.  They  arc  best  represented  west  and  south  of  the 
area  of  older  rocks  about  Utica.  The  uppermost  limestone  has  been  named 
the  La  Salle  limestone,  which  outcrops  particularly  along  the  two  Vermilion 


HARD   ROCKS 


45 


rivers.  Bailey's  Falls  arc  over  it,  and  along  the  line  of  its  outcrop  arc 
located  the  Portland  cement  plants  of  La  Salle  and  Portland.  It  has  an 
upper  and  a  lower  phase,  is  finely  crystalline,  of  a  blue-gray  color,  compact, 
thick  bedded,  moderately  fossiliferous,  and  in  places  mottled  with  vein 
ealcite.  The  limestone  contains  a  varying  amount  of  clay  and  a  little  iron 
oxide. 

Coal  is  the  least  of  the  formations  in  quantity,  but  its  economic  value 
is  greater  than  that  of  all  other  local  mineral  resources.    Of  the  half  dozen 


••••••     •    •  •  - .' 

• . ' .  .  •'  •  •  •    •  •  *.  *. 

.     •     •     •    •      •  •      •        ••'•••'.•••.••      •••••.•••;•••■,•-•••'.••■•.       •  \      ' 

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'•  •    '.   .'•"••'  <"^v   '  '.  '•'••.•'..  >•'( 

lW0^M^f 

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SllSBHil 

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'•']y^\$A-}lY$'X 

■  '•'■:!:}^\-''.'y-\; :'::::: : 

Bter)sandstone  .*;.••; 

:.  - :  ■ :  :'•  • .'  •'  -.:  •/.*,' :  *. ;- ;  .•  ■ '• : ; 

Fig.  13. — Diagrammatic  illustration  of  the  unconformable  relation  of  the  St.  Peter 
sandstone  and  the  Pennsylvanian   ("Coal  Measures")  series. 


coal  beds  in  a  single  section,  not  more  than  two  or  three  are  of  economic 
importance.  The  most  valuable  coal  bed  is  about  12  feet  above  the  base 
of  the  series.  This  is  coal  No.  2,  familiarly  known  as  the  "Third  Vein" 
coal.  The  bed  averages  about  three  feet  in  thickness,  and  furnishes  coal 
of  unusually  good  quality.  Two  thicker  beds  of  poorer  coal  lie  above  it. 
The  coal  varies  considerably  in  hardness  and  composition.  Particularly 
undesirable  are  concretions  of  pyrite,  which  form  platy  clusters  or  have 
replaced  portions  of  stalks  or  of  bark. 

The  unconformable  relations  of  the  "Coal  Measures"  with  the 
underlying  formations  may  be  established  in  almost  any  section  that  shows 
a   contact  with   one   of   the   older   formations.     At   the   crossing   of   the 


46  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

Little  Vermilion  along  the  La  Salle-Dimmick  town-line  road,  the  relations 
of  figure  13  are  shown.  Here  the  basal  Carboniferous  or  "Coal  Measures" 
sandstone  lies  on  the  St.  Peter  sandstone.  The  latter  was  fissured,  the 
fissures  were  filled,  and  then  erosion  wore  down  the  sandstone  so  that  the 
vein  fillings  stood  out  in  relief  before  the  first  "Coal  Measures"  sands 
were  deposited  upon  it.  In  many  places  the  "Coal  Measures"  may  be 
seen  lying  in  a  depression  in  the  older  rock,  similar  to  the  Platteville  noted 
above.  The  position  of  the  "Coal  Measures"  upon  each  and  all  of  the 
formations  of  the  region  serves  to  establish  its  unconformity  with  all  but 
the  youngest  underlying  formation.  Field  evidence  of  a  break  in  the 
history  of  sedimentation  between  the  Richmond  limestone  and  "Coal 
Measures"  is  lacking.  It  is  known  however  that  all  the  formations  of  two 
great  intervening  periods,  the  Silurian  and  Devonian,  are  wanting. 

Within  the  "Coal  Measures"  are  numerous  minor  and  local 
unconformities.  These  represent  only  short  intervals  of  erosion  in 
limited  areas,  and  are  not  comparable  to  the  breaks  between  larger  divisions 
of  the  geologic  series.  An  unconformity  of  this  sort  may  be  seen  in  the 
eastern  part  of  the  city  of  Marseilles,  where  "Coal  Measures"  sandstone 
may  be  seen  overlying  "Coal  Measures"  shale  with  an  erosion  contact. 
On  Covel  Creek,  half  a  mile  south  of  Hitt's,  eroded  shale  is  overlain  by 
sandstone. 

Structure  of  the  Rocks 

general  southward  dip 

In  most  sedimentation,  the  beds  are  laid  down  in  layers  that  are  almost 
horizontal.  Sediments  are  deposited  normally  on  gently  sloping  surfaces, 
either  on  the  floor  of  a  sea  or  on  low-lying  land.  The  beds  thus  formed 
have  a  slope  which  may  be  too  slight  to  be  noted  by  the  eye.  The  sea 
encroached  upon  this  region  from  the  south,  and  the  sediments  on  its 
sloping  floor  had  a  slight  southward  dip.  This  may  be  shown  by  the  fact 
that  to  the  southward  successively  younger  formations  are  encountered, 
and  that  the  elevation  of  the  various  formations  above  sea  level  decreases 
constantly,  although  slowly,  southward.  The  Potsdam  sandstone  outcrops 
at  the  surface  several  hundred  miles  to  the  north  of  this  region ;  here  it  is 
about  600  feet  beneath  the  level  of  the  sea.  This  obscure  depositional  dip, 
however,  is  locally  masked  by  deformation  which  has  warped  every 
formation  of  the  region  out  of  its  original  position. 

LA   SALLE   ANTICLINE 

The  older  beds  in  the  west-central  part  of  the  region  about  Utica  have 
been  brought  to  the  surface  by  their  upfolding  into  a  great  arch,  or 
anticline.    This  anticline  crosses  Illinois  Valley  between  Utica  and  the  two 


HARD   ROCKS  47 

Vermilion  rivers,  crosses  the  Little  Vermilion  on  Tomahawk  Creek  and 
again  below  Dimmick,  and  is  again  seen  to  the  northwest  at  Dixon  on  Rock 
River,  where  it  brings  the  St.  Peter  sandstone  to  the  surface.  Southward 
it  passes  out  of  this  area  at  Lowell.  The  axis  of  the  fold  is  about  N.20°W. 
(in  the  shaft  of  Black  Hollow  mine  recorded  as  N.12°  W.)  Its  general 
course  is  shown  by  the  outcrops  of  the  inclined  La  Salle  limestone  which 
run  northwestward  from  the  bluffs  of  the  Illinois  at  a  point  half  a  mile 
west  of  Split  Rock  to  the  Little  Vermilion. 

The  line  of  greatest  uplift,  or  the  axis  of  the  fold  crosses  the  north 
bluff  of  the  Illinois  about  at  the  mouth  of  the  Pecumsaugan  canyon,  for 
here  the  Prairie  du  Chien,  the  oldest  formation,  is  at  its  maximum 
elevation.  On  both  sides  the  beds  dip  away,  more  gradually  on  the  east 
than  on  the  west.  The  western  flank  of  the  fold  shows  dips  exceeding 
30  degrees,  which  carry  the  Prairie  du  Chien  limestone  beneath  the  valley 
floor  within  half  a  mile  of  the  crest  of  the  fold,  where  the  limestone 
outcrops  more  than  160  feet  above  the  river.  The  dip  on  the  western  flank  is 
so  steep  that  the  outcrops  of  the  various  formations  are  tilted  nearly  on 
end  the  entire  St.  Peter  sandstone,  for  instance,  having  a  surface  outcrop 
only  about  120  yards  wide.  On  the  easteim  flank  of  the  fold  the  dip  is 
very  gentle,  not  over  5  degrees,  and  the  beds  are  in  many  places  apparently 
horizontal.  As  a  result  the  outcrops  are  wide;  the  eastern  limit  of  the 
outcrop  of  the  Prairie  du  Chien  limestone  is  two  miles  east  of  the  crest 
of  the  fold.  The  width  of  outcrop  of  the  St.  Peter  sandstone  on  the  eastern 
flank  of  the  anticline,  with  the  same  thickness  as  on  the  west,  is  about 
11  miles.  These  comparisons  show  strikingly  the  unsymmetrical  character 
of  the  fold  (see  Plate  II). 

In  the  bowing  up  of  the  strata  a  great  many  beds  of  greatly  varying 
resistance  were  involved.  The  weakest  beds  yielded  most  readily.  On  the 
western  flank  of  the  fold  where  the  deformation  was  most  severe,  the  shaly 
beds  in  the  Prairie  du  Chien  formation  have  been  crumpled  into  sharp 
folds,  whereas  the  beds  of  limestone  and  sandstone  between  are  tilted,  or 
perhaps  broken,  but  not  crumpled.  Where  the  more  resistant  beds  were 
broken  in  the  deformation,  the  clay  was  forced  in  around  the  fragments, 
filling  the  spaces  between  and  giving  the  rock  a  brecciated  character. 

The  La  Salle  anticline  was  not  developed  all  at  one  time.  The  folding 
consisted  of  several  movements  extending  through  long  periods  of  time, 
which  did  not  cease  finally,  until  long  after  the  first  beds  were  deformed. 
The  Prairie  du  Chien  shows  beds  which  have  been  deformed  more  than 
any  later  ones.  These  beds  and  other  rather  indefinite  data  suggest  the 
possibility  of  a  first  deformation  after  the  deposition  of  the  Prairie  du  Chien 
limestone.  There  is  positive  evidence  of  deformation  between  the 
Platteville-Galena  epoch  and  the  beginning  of  the  "Coal  Measures"  period. 
During  this  interval,  the  first  great  bowing  up  of  the  strata  occurred.    At 


48 


UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 


the  close  of  the  "Coal  Measures"  period,  the  beds  were  again  deformed. 
These  two  great  periods  of  deformation  find  confirmation  in  many  places 
along  the  western  flank  of  the  fold.  In  many  places  the  Platteville  and 
older  formations  show  dips  of  30,  32,  and  40  degrees,  and  directly  overlying 
them  are  the  Carboniferous  beds  having  a  dip  of  less  than  20  degrees  and 
commonly  less  than  15  degrees.  Good  exposures  of  this  disparity  of  dip 
between  the  "Coal  Measures"  and  the  older  formations  may  be  seen  at 
Split  Rock,  and  on  the  Big  Vermilion  just  above  the  mouth  of  Deer  Park 
Glen. 

MINOR  DEFORMATIONS 

Upon  this  large  fold,  minor  folds  were  developed  locally.     The  most 
notable  are  listed  as  follows:    (1)    Opposite  La  Salle  at  the  suspension 


Fig.  14. — Small  syncline  in  the  ' '  Coal  Measures ' ;  along  Big  Vermilion  Biver  below 
Lowell. 


bridge  on  the  Little  Vermilion  a  trough,  less  than  twenty  feet  deep,  has 
been  formed  in  the  La  Salle  limestone.  (2)  Another  minor  syncline 
(structural  trough)  on  the  Big  Vermilion  is  illustrated  in  figure  14. 
(3)  The  St.  Peter  sandstone  shows  several  deformations,  notably  at  Wedron 
on  Fox  Eiver.  On  the  eastern  flank  of  the  anticline,  the  gentle  eastward 
dip  carries  the  St.  Peter  sandstone  beneath  the  surface  a  short  distance 
above  Ottawa  (both  in  the  Illinois  and  Fox  valleys).  Farther  up  Fox 
Valley  the  formation  reappears  in  three  prominent  outcrops  about  Dayton, 
about  Wedron,  and  about  Sheridan.  At  Wedron  the  sandstone  rises  more 
than  120  feet  above  the  normal  elevation  of  its  surface.  At  this  place  the 
sandstone  is  domed  up,  and  dips  to  the  south.  A  lesser  bowing  has 
probably  exposed  the  formation  in  the  river  bed  at  Dayton.     (4)  Sags  and 


HARD   ROCKS  49 

swells  abound  in  the  "Coal  Measures,"  although  they  arc  of  very  slight 
extent,  both  vertically  and  horizontally.  In  the  Morris  basin  almost  every 
creek  shows  such  minor  warpings  of  the  beds.  They  appear  through  a 
considerable  part  of  the  '  *  Coal  Measures ' '  series,  indicating  the  frequency 
of  crustal  warping  in  the  course  of  the  Carboniferous  period.  Occasionally 
the  beds  have  been  faulted.  In  shaft  No.  3  of  the  Spring  Valley  Coal 
Company  a  fault  has  been  encountered  in  which  the  beds  have  suffered  a 
vertical  displacement  of  11  feet. 

These  minor  deformations  are  rather  more  common  here  than  in  most 
similar  areas.  The  may  be  connected  causally  with  the  development  of 
the  larger  anticline. 

History  of  Formation  of  Hard  Eocks 

Geologic  time  has  been  divided  into  five  principal  eras.  The  history 
of  the  bedded  rocks  of  this  region  falls  entirely  within  the  third  of  these, 
the  Paleozoic,  which  includes  the  oldest  sedimentary  rocks  with  abundant 
remains  of  life.  Of  the  oldest  Paleozoic  period,  the  Cambrian,  there  is  no 
surface  record  here,  but  the  buried  Potsdam  sandstone  indicates  that  at  the 
time  of  its  deposition  this  region  was  covered  by  a  shallow  sea,  which 
shifted  sand  widely  over  the  area  of  the  present  interior  plains. 

The  second  Paleozoic  period,  the  Ordovician,  was  probably  begun  by  a 
change  to  a  clearer  sea,  in  which  marine  life  was  abundant  and  formed  in 
large  part  the  beds  of  the  Prairie  du  Chien  limestone.  Occasionally,  the 
waters  were  disturbed  by  waves  which  carried  in  thin  deposits  of  sand 
or  mixed  silt  with  the  organic  remains  on  the  sea  floor.  The  variable 
nature  of  the  beds  may  point  as  well  to  rather  frequent  slight  changes  in 
the  depth  of  the  sea,  putting  its  floor  at  times  within  reach  of  wave 
drag,  and  at  times  of  deeper  water  protecting  it  from  such  agitation.  The 
early  Ordovician  sea  spread  widely  over  the  central  states,  the  nearest  land 
being  in  northern  Wisconsin.  It  is  known  to  have  persisted  for  a  very 
considerable  time,  allowing  the  deposition  of  a  considerable  thickness  of 
limestone  on  the  floor  of  a  slowly  sinking  sea  bottom. 

Later  the  sea  withdrew  from  the  region,  and  the  newly  formed  land 
was  exposed  to  weathering  and  erosion  by  streams.  The  land  surface 
became  gullied  and  generally  uneven.  This  erosion  interval  is  expressed 
by  the  unconformable  contact  between  the  Prairie  du  Chien  and  the 
St.  Peter  formations.  Observations  made  in  other  regions  indicate  that 
the  withdrawal  of  the  sea  was  widespread  and  affected  an  area  much 
greater  than  northern  Illinois. 

The  third  scene  in  Ordovician  history  was  introduced  by  another 
depression  of  the  land.  It  is  possible  that  the  sea  encroached  again  over 
the  region,  but  if  so  the  water  was  somewhat  less  extensive  and  shallower 
than  before,  for  in  it  sands  only  were  laid  down.     These  later  hardened 


50  UPPER  ILLIKOIS  VALLEY 

into  the  St.  Peter  sandstone.  It  is  possible  that  from  some  rather  nearby 
land  area,  probably  northern  Wisconsin,  rivers  may  have  brought  down 
great  masses  of  sand  to  the  sea  coast,  there  to  be  shifted  about  by  the  wind 
and  the  waves.  The  conditions  during  the  deposition  of  the  St.  Peter  sand- 
stone were  wonderfully  uniform,  as  the  sandstone  shows  almost  no  variation 
from  top  to  bottom.  This  may  be  explained  by  a  slowly  and  uniformly 
sinking  land  surface,  by  which  the  conditions  for  the  deposition  of  sand 
were  maintained  constantly.  This  period  of  depression  was  of  relatively 
short  duration;  the  deposition  of  200  feet  of  sandstone  required  probably 
but  a  fraction  of  the  time  which  was  needed  for  the  formation  of  the 
Prairie  du  Chien  limestone. 

Again  the  land  was  elevated  and  the  surface  of  the  St.  Peter  formation 
eroded.  This  erosion  interval  is  not  established  over  as  wide  an  area  as 
the  preceding  one. 

The  Platteville  sea  which  followed  was  perhaps  more  extensive  than 
any  since  the  Potsdam.  The  limestone  is  very  uniform  in  character,  and 
indicates  deposition  in  water  sufficiently  deep  to  prevent  the  washing  in 
of  mud.  Later  the  sea  became  more  shallow,  and  mud  was  again  swept  in 
to  form,  after  a  time,  the  Cincinnatian  shales.  Another  deepening  of  the 
sea  brought  with  it  abundant  shell-bearing  life,  which  accumulated  in  the 
beds  of  the  Richmond  limestone. 

After  the  deposition  of  the  Richmond  limestone,  the  sea  withdrew 
again,  and  throughout  the  middle  west  a  long  interval  of  erosion  followed, 
terminated  by  the  invasion  of  the  Niagaran  sea,  in  which  accumulated 
one  of  the  most  notable  limestone  formations  of  the  interior.  Another 
oscillation  caused  the  region  to  emerge  from  the  sea  and  brought  it  into 
a  position  to  be  eroded.  After  this  time  submergence  of  the  land  is  not 
known  to  have  taken  place  until  the  Pennsylvanian  ("Coal  Measures") 
period.  If  there  was  submergence  in  the  meantime,  as  in  the  Devonian  or 
Mississippian  periods,  that  fact  is  not  known.  If  formations  of  these 
periods  were  ever  deposited  here,  they  were  completely  removed  by  erosion 
before  the  period  of  the  "Coal  Measures." 

The  first  great  recorded  growth  of  the  La  Salle  anticline  occurred 
after  the  deposition  of  the  Platteville  and  before  the  formation  of  the 
"Coal  Measures,"  as  shown  by  the  contrasted  dips  of  these  formations. 
Deformation  may  have  begun  in  the  Middle  Ordovician  period,  even  during 
the  Platteville  epoch.  The  bowing  up  of  the  anticline  was  doubtlessly  very 
slow.  The  arching  may  have  elevated  the  older  beds  above  sea  level,  and 
exposed  them  to  erosion,  at  the  same  time  that  sediments  were  accumulating 
around  the  deformed  area.  This  would  account  for  the  absence  in  the 
anticline  of  beds  intermediate  between  the  Platteville-Galena  formation 
and  the  ' '  Coal  Measures. ' ' 


HARD   ROCKS  5l 

In  the  "Coal  Measures"  period  sediments  were  again  deposited  over 
all  the  area.  Deposition  may  have  been  due  in  part  to  the  gradual  wearing 
down  of  the  land  surface  by  stream  erosion,  which  reduced  it  to  a  low, 
marshy  condition,  with  sluggish  streams;  but  the  region  was  also  at  times 
beneath  the  sea.  In  contrast  to  the  previous  uniformity  over  large  areas 
there  were  in  the  "Coal  Measures"  stage  many  small  and  variable  basins 
in  which  deposition  took  place.  Muddy  water,  clear  water,  and  exposed 
land  surfaces  were  within  short  distances  of  one  another,  and  deposits  of 
mud,  sand,  and  limy  material  took  place  contemporaneously,  while  adjacent 
areas  perhaps  received  no  deposits  at  all.  The  greatest  uniformity  is  found 
in  the  limestone  members  of  the  series,  formed  during  epochs  of  depression 
while  the  sea  level  stood  safely  above  the  entire  surface  of  the  region.  The 
greatest  variety  of  conditions  was  recorded  while  the  region  lay  about  at 
the  sea  level,  and  very  slight  oscillations  furnished  the  conditions  for 
erosion,  or  for  the  deposition  of  coal,  shale,  sandstone,  and  sometimes  of 
limestone. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  "Coal  Measures"  period,  beach  conditions 
prevailed,  under  which  much  sand  was  shifted  about.  Marshes  formed  at 
the  edges  of  the  sea,  and  in  them  accumulated  vegetable  material  which 
later  formed  coal.  Oscillations  of  the  sea  level  were  very  numerous,  but  a 
general  tendency  toward  greater  submergence  became  marked  as  the 
period  progressed.  Slightly  submerged  marshes  gave  way  more  and  more 
to  deeper  waters,  and  these  in  turn  to  the  open  sea  in  which  the  formation 
of  sand  and  shale  was  succeeded  by  that  of  limestone.  The  upper  horizons 
of  the  "Coal  Measures"  are  largely  limestone,  and  indicate  marine 
conditions  for  rather  a  long  time  toward  the  close  of  the  period.  Most  of 
the  Pennsylvanian  limestone  is  in  the  upper  horizons  of  the  series,  and 
most  of  the  coal  is  in  the  lower.  Shales  are  most  pronounced  in  the  upper 
part  of  the  series. 

After  the  close  of  the  period,  deformation  affected  the  central  area 
again.  Along  practically  the  same  axis  as  before,  the  beds  were  again 
folded,  but  not  so  severely  as  in  post-Platteville-Galena  time.  Perhaps  this 
folding  Avas  a  minor  expression  of  the  great  movements  that  were  then 
taking  place  in  many  parts  of  the  earth,  as  in  the  Appalachian  region,  and 
which  brought  the  Paleozoic  with  its  ancient  forms  of  life  to  a  close.  With 
this  uplift  the  history  of  marine  deposition  in  this  region  closes.  The  great 
interior  sea  withdrew  permanently,  and  the  later  history  deals  with 
processes  that  shape  land  surfaces  and  not  with  the  beat  of  ocean  waves. 

Pre-Glacial  Topography  and  Its  History 

character  of  bed-rock  surface 

Outcrops  of  bed  rock  are  widely  distributed,  but  occupy  only  a  very 
small  part  of  the  surface  of  the  region.    In  most  of  the  area  the  bed  rock 


52  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

is  concealed  by  a  thick  cover  of  clay,  sand,  and  gravel,  of  very  unequal 
and  irregular  thickness.  The  present  surface  of  the  land  shows  only  a 
slight  similarity  to  the  surface  of  the  bed  rock.  A  reconstruction  of  the 
buried  bed-rock  surface  could  be  attempted  only  after  an  exhaustive  study 
of  the  region,  particularly  after  a  close  notation  of  elevations  of  outcrop, 
and  an  elaborate  cataloguing  of  well  records  to  show  the  distance  of  bed 
rock  beneath  the  surface.  The  material  for  such  a  reconstruction  is  not 
now  at  hand,  so  that  only  certain  large  features  can  be  stated  definitely, 
and  suggestions  given  which  point  to  other  conditions. 

On  the  whole,  the  surface  of  the  bed  rock  is  much  more  irregular  than 
the  present  land  surface,  the  thick  drift  cover  hiding  entirely  in  several 
places,  ridges  and  depressions  in  the  bed  rock,  having  a  vertical  extent  of 
several  hundred  feet.  If  these  depressions  and  elevations  could  be  traced 
in  their  entirety,  they  would  be  found  to  form  buried  valleys  and  ridges. 
Were  the  drift  cover  stripped  from  the  region,  the  place  of  the  present  flat 
prairies  would  be  taken  by  a  region  of  rather  sharp  valleys  and  narrow, 
ridged  uplands.  These  valleys  were  more  numerous  and  deeper  than 
those  of  the  streams  which  now  drain  the  region. 

The  major  buried  depressions  known  are  as  follows: 

1.  In  the  western  part  of  the  region  the  surface  of  the  bed  rock 
declines  into  a  great  linear  depression  which  runs  southward  from  Rock 
River  to  Princeton,  and  thence  follows  the  line  of  the  Illinois.  The  present 
surface  of  the  land  lies  quite  generally  well  above  600  feet  above  sea  level. 
At  Spring  Valley  the  surface  of  the  bed  rock  is  about  at  600  feet.  North 
of  Marquette  it  declines  to  500  feet.  Bed  rock  has  not  been  found  at  an 
elevation  greater  than  400  feet  at  Depue  or  in  Hennepin  Township, 
Putnam  County.  Four  miles  farther  west,  at  Bureau  Junction,  the  rock 
surface  is  only  340  feet  above  sea  level.  West  of  Princeton  the  rock 
surface  again  rises  rather  sharply. 

These  records  furnish  a  section  across  a  buried  valley,  parts  of  which 
are  covered  by  at  least  350  feet  of  loose  materials,  and  of  which  the  present 
surface  of  the  land  shows  no  trace.  Leverett2  has  reconstructed  this  old 
valley  southward  from  Rock  River  to  its  junction  with  the  present  line 
of  the  Illinois  at  the  "Great  Bend."  Where  it  joins  the  valley  of  the 
Illinois  its  floor  is  a  hundred  feet  beneath  the  present  channel.  It  has 
been  suggested  by  Leverett  that  this  buried  valley  may  be  in  part  the 
pre-glacial  valley  of  Mississippi  River.  Certain  it  is  that  here  was  a 
pre-glacial  valley,  greater  than  the  present  Illinois  Valley,  both  in  depth 
and  width,  and  it  probably  held  a  stream  larger  than  the  Illinois  of  today. 
Figure  15  is  an  attempted  reconstruction  of  the  old  drainage  system.  Well 
records  indicate  several  affluents  to  this  buried  valley  above  Hennepin. 

3Leverett,   Frank,   U.    S.   Geological   Survey   Mon.    38,    Chap.    12,   PI.   XII. 


HARD   ROCKS 


53 


One  of  these  probably  has  been  occupied  by  the  Illinois  below  La  Salle. 
That  part  of  Illinois  Valley  with  an  alluvial  floor  below  La  Salle  is 
considerably  older  than  the  rock-floored  valley  above.  Very  clear  indications 
of  this  older  valley  are  given  above  the  bend.  At  Allforks  Creek  and  at 
Marquette,  the  old  valley  bottom  is  at  the  very  least  50  feet  below  the 
present  channel.  Another  tributary  appears  to  have  come  in  from  the 
northeast  through  Hollowayville  and  Ladd. 

2.  From  La  Salle  to  Marseilles  and  beyond,  the  elevation  of  the 
bed-rock  surface  is  rather  uniformly  at  about  600  feet  above  sea  level. 


Fig.  15. — Reconstruction  of  the  Rock-Illinois  Valley.     The  dashed  line  is  the  course 
of  the  present  Rock  River   (after  Leverett). 


Buried  depressions  have  been  observed  in  but  few  places,  and  these  record 
small  steep-sided  valleys  cut  in  the  general  pre-glacial  upland  which 
occupied  central  La  Salle  County.  On  Buck  and  Indian  creeks  above 
Wedron,  such  old  valleys  are  exposed  in  cross-section  along  the  sides  of 
the  creeks.  North  of  Marseilles,  however,  particularly  through  central  Miller 
Township,  well  drillers  have  encountered  repeatedly  a  large  depression 
which  appears  to  follow  a  northeast-southwest  line,  and  which  in  at  least 
one  case  reported  descends  to  about  475  feet  above  tide. 

3.  South  of  Illinois  Valley,  another  large  buried  drainage  line  can 
be  traced  for  a  distance  of  about  10  miles.  This  line  has  been  followed  from 
the  Farm  Ridge  crossing  on  the  Big  Vermilion  River,  eastward  to  Grand 


54  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

Ridge.  Beyond,  a  number  of  wells  in  Grand  Rapids  and  Brookfield 
townships  record  apparently  a  continuation  of  this  valley  to  Illinois  Valley 
above  Seneca.  In  a  series  of  wells  west  of  Grand  Ridge,  the  bed-rock 
surface  falls  to  at  least  430  feet  above  sea  level,  and  a  drilling  near 
Vermilion  River  passed  through  sand  and  gravel  to  a  depth  of  70  feet 
below  the  level  of  that  stream.3  For  more  than  two  miles  along  the 
Vermilion  south  of  Lowell,  no  rock  is  exposed  either  on  the  floor  or  sides 
of  the  valley.  About  three-fourths  of  a  mile  above  the  Farm  Ridge 
crossing  the  surface  materials  may  be  seen  resting  against  a  sloping  surface 
of  rock,  which  marks  one  valley  side  of  the  buried  river  course.  This  valley, 
of  which  this  fragmentary  record  was  discovered,  appears  to  have  been 
comparable  to  the  present  Illinois  both  in  depth  and  width. 

4.  Above  Marseilles  the  elevation  at  which  bed  rock  is  found  decreases 
rapidly.  At  Marseilles  it  is  still  600  feet,  or  almost  150  feet  above  the 
river,  but  south  of  Seneca  it  drops  below  the  level  of  the  river.  North  of 
the  river  the  surface  of  the  bed  rock  does  not  descend  beneath  the  valley 
floor  except  for  a  short  distance  in  Erienna  Township.  In  all  the  region 
east  of  Seneca,  bedded  rock  is  inconspicuous,  and  in  numerous  places  its 
surface  is  at  a  considerable  distance  beneath  the  Morris  Basin,  which 
appears  to  be  another  broad,  low-lying,  pre-glacial  valley. 

The  general  character  of  the  bed-rock  surface  is  that  of  a  broad, 
elevated  central  region  from  Spring  Valley  to  Seneca,  flanked  on  each 
side  by  an  extensive  depression — on  the  west  by  the  old  valley  at  Princeton, 
on  the  east  by  the  low  Morris  Basin.  In  the  central  elevated  section  the 
maximum  elevation  of  bed  rock  is  quite  uniformly  in  the  neighborhood  of 
600  feet  above  sea  level.  The  surface  is  here  and  there  depressed  beneath 
this  level,  but  a  line  extending  across  the  summit  elevations  would  coincide 
almost  exactly  with  the  600-foot  contour.  The  even  surface  of  the  bed 
rock  is  expressed  by  the  level-topped  valley  bluffs  which  have  but  a  slight 
covering  of  drift.  In  the  frontispiece,  the  panoramic  view  from  Starved 
Rock  shows  plainly  the  even  sky  line  of  the  opposite  side  of  the  valley, 
which  is  rock  almost  to  the  top.  This  view  reaches  from  La  Salle  to  Buffalo 
Rock  and  shows  the  level  surface  stretching  uninterruptedly  across  the 
whole  anticline  and  including  some  of  the  horizontally  bedded  rocks  on 
each  side.  This  plane  surface  cuts  straight  across  a  great  variety  of  forma- 
tions very  unequally  resistant  to  erosion,  which  range  from  the  hard 
Prairie  du  Chien  limestone  about  Utica,  to  the  readily  eroded  Carboniferous 
clays  and  shales  of  Ottawa,  and  the  intermediate  St.  Peter  sandstone. 
Similarly,  away  from  the  valley,  wells  within  this  central  zone  commonly 
penetrate  bed  rock  at  an  elevation  of  about  600  feet.  Such  a  plane  rock 
surface  developed  upon  rocks  of  unequal  hardness,  is  called  a  peneplain. 


information  by  Mr.   Williams  of  Grand  Ridge. 


HARD   ROCKS  55 

HISTORY   OF   PRE-GLACIAL   EROSION   PERIOD 

Between  the  deposition  of  the  youngest  member  of  the  "Coal 
Measures"  and  the  formation  of  the  drift  which  covers  the  bed  rock,  many 
geologic  periods  passed  involving  great  changes  in  the  history  of  the  earth 
through  many  millions  of  years.  The  youngest  bed-rock  formation  of  the 
region  belongs  to  the  ancient  history  of  the  earth ;  the  drift  cover  to  modern 
geologic  time.  The  character  of  the  eroded  surface  of  the  bed  rock  is 
almost  the  only  local  record  of  what  transpired  in  the  time  that  intervened. 

While  in  many  other  regions  great  deposits  accumulated  in  the 
intervening  periods,  in  most  of  the  eastern  half  of  the  North  American 
continent,  geologic  activity  was  confined  to  the  wearing  down  of  the  land 
by  weathering  and  stream  erosion.  During  this  great  interval,  erosion 
was  the  dominant  geologic  process  within  this  area,  as  deposition  had  been 
previously.  Of  the  varying  fortunes  of  the  region  during  this  long  time, 
probably  only  the  last  chapters  have  been  preserved  in  the  character  of  the 
eroded  surface.  This  shows  particularly  two  distinctive  features:  (1)  the 
central,  elevated  plain,  and  (2)  a  well-drained  region,  considerably 
dissected,  with  several  broad,  low  valleys. 

The  development  of  a  peneplain  is  a  late  stage  in  the  long  process  of 
erosion.  The  surface  run-off  erodes  most  readily  where  the  material  is 
least  resistant  and  soon  develops  valleys  on  the  weaker  rock.  The  more 
resistant  rocks  thus  gradually  come  to  stand  out  as  ridges  above  the  more 
rapidly  eroded  softer  materials.  This  differential  rate  of  erosion  causes  a 
constantly  increasing  difference  in  elevation  between  the  ridges  of  harder 
rock  and  the  valleys  of  weaker  rock,  until  the  valleys  have  been  brought 
as  low  as  running  wTater  can  erode.  When  the  gradient  of  the  main  streams 
has  become  too  slight  for  further  erosion,  slope  wash  and  minor  streams 
flowing  down  the  slopes  of  the  harder  ridges  still  continue  actively  to 
remove  material.  By  the  wearing  down  of  the  harder  ridges,  while  the 
depressions  remain  at  a  constant  elevation,  relief  gradually  is  lessened ;  the 
valleys  wait,  as  it  were,  for  the  ridges  to  be  brought  down  to  the  level 
which  they  long  since  reached.  Finally,  when  the  whole  region  is  brought 
as  low  as  running  water  can  erode  its  surface,  the  ridges  disappear  and  a 
generally  flat  surface  is  the  result.  A  flat  surface  produced  in  this  way  is  a 
base  level.  When  the  surface  has  been  reduced  nearly  to  flatness  it  is  a 
peneplain.  Peneplanation  is  the  only  satisfactory  explanation  for  the 
formation  of  an  extensive  flat  surface  across  a  region  of  folded  rocks  so 
unequal  in  hardness  as  in  the  La  Salle  anticline.  How  often  the  processes 
of  erosion  leveled  the  land  to  a  monotonous  plain,  and  how  often  the  dying 
streams  were  quickened  into  new  activity  by  uplift  of  the  land,  we  have 
no  means  of  knowing.  One  such  cycle  of  erosion  is,  however,  preserved 
in  the  flat  summits  of  the  central  area. 


56  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

Peneplanation  was  followed  by  an  uplift  and  a  reestablishment  of 
vigorous  drainage.  Valleys  were  cut  into  the  general  flat,  and  again  some 
of  the  larger  streams  lowered  their  floors  to  base  level,  and  formed  broad 
flood  plains  as  indicated  by  the  broad  valley  at  Princeton.  Central  and 
eastern  La  Salle  County  were  dissected  by  smaller  streams  which  had  not 
destroyed  the  older  flat  surface.  The  relief,  therefore,  was  greater  then 
than  now.  At  this  point  the  erosion  history  was  interrupted  by  the 
mantling  of  the  old  surface  by  glacial  drift. 

Although  the  general  history  of  the  interval  is  concerned  with 
degradational  processes,  the  conditions  were  afforded  locally  for 
occasional  sedimentation,  as  in  river  flood  plains.  Lying  upon  the 
bed  rock  and  apparently  older  than  the  drift  are  occasional  thin  beds  of 
gravel.  These  are  known  particularly  in  the  western  region,  and  are  shown 
in  sections  on  lower  Spring  Creek,  and  on  lower  Negro  Creek.  The  gravels 
are  of  local  materials,  mostly  cherts  and  quartz,  considerably  weathered. 
Similar  old  stream  gravels  of  probable  pre-glacial  age  may  be  seen  on  the 
east  side  of  Fox  River,  in  the  sand  pits  just  above  Wedron. 

These  few  fragments  comprise  the  local  record  of  a  period  of  time 
comparable  to  that  involved  in  the  deposition  of  all  the  rocks  of  this 
region. 


CHAPTER  IV— ICE  AGE 

Relation  of  Drift  Cover  to  Bed  Rock 

In  the  weathering  of  solid  rock  there  is  formed  gradually  a  mantle  of 
rock  waste  on  its  surface  (fig.  16).  Such  a  rock  cover  has  the  following 
characteristics:  (1)  It  grades  downward  from  soil  through  subsoil  into 
partially  decomposed  rock,  and  finally  into  firm  bed  rock.  (2)  Since  it  is 
merely  the  weathered  outer  portion  of  the  bed  rock,  its  surface  conforms 
in  outline  rather  closely  to  the  surface  of  the  bed  rock.  (3)  Its  thickness 
depends  largely  on  the  slope  of  the  surface,  being  thickest  on  flats  and 
thinnest  on  steep  slopes.    Slope  wash  keeps  pace  with  or  exceeds  rock  decay 


Fig.   16. — Diagrammatic  illustration  of  the  relation  of  mantle  rock  to  the  under- 
lying rock  from  which  it  was  derived   (courtesy  of  U.   S.  Geological  Survey). 

on  many  slopes,  so  that  on  hillsides  the  rock  cover  is  kept  at  a  slight 
thickness.  (4)  Since  the  soil  is  residual  from  the  decay  of  the  underlying 
rock,  its  chemical  composition  is  limited  to  the  range  of  mineral  elements 
found  in  the  bed  rock,  and  of  these  it  contains  for  the  most  part  only  the 
relatively  insoluble  constituents.  These  characteristics  are  common  to  the 
greater  part  of  the  surface  of  the  earth.  The  upland  soils  of  the  region 
south  of  Ohio  River  are  of  this  nature,  as  are  those  of  southwestern  Wis- 
consin and  part  of  northwestern  Illinois. 

The  rock  cover  in  this  region  differs  from  that  noted  above  in  several 
particulars : 

1.  Contact  between  drift  and  bed  rock  is  commonly  clearly  defined. 
Figure  16  shows  contact  by  weathering;  figures  29  and  30  show  two  types 
of  contact  of  the  local  mantle  (drift)  with  fresh  bed  rock.  Figure  29 
shows  a  clear-cut  contact  between  drift  and  a  coal  bed.  Figure  30  shows 
till  (material  worn  and  deposited  by  glacial  ice)  at  the  top  of  the  section, 
and  below  is  shown  till  mixed  with  fire  clay  and  shale.  Still  farther  down 
the  material  becomes  a  mass  of  disrupted  fragments  of  ''Coal  Measures" 
with  occasional  masses  of  drift.  At  the  base  of  the  section  the  fire  clay  of 
the  "Coal  Measures"  may  be  seen  in  position  passing  from  the  upper 
crumpled  beds  to  the  lower  undisturbed  horizontal  beds.  This  second  type 
of  contact,  however,  is  evidently  not  a  gradation  due  to  weathering,  but  is 
the  result  of  the  forcible  mixing  of  the  different  materials. 

(  57  ) 


58 


UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 


On  the  whole  the  sharpest  contacts  between  drift  and  bed  rock  are  found 
where  the  drift  overlies  a  resistant  formation,  such  as  one  of  the  various 
limestones  of  the  region.  This  is  well  shown  along  the  Big  and  Little  Ver- 
milion rivers  (La  Salle  and  Platteville-Galena  limestones),  and  on  Au  Sable 
Creek  (Platteville-Galena  and  Richmond  limestones).  These  harder  rocks 
show  planed,  smooth,  and  striated  surfaces  in  many  places.  On  the  other 
hand,  shales  and  clays  rarely  have  a  definite  contact  with  the  drift. 
Figure  17  shows  a  relation  of  the  latter  sort  from  the  pit  of  the  Utica  Fire 


Fig.  17. — Diagrammatic  illustration  of  the  indefinite  relations  of  soft  bed  rock  and 
drift  as  seen  in  the  pit  of  the  Utica  Fire  Brick  Company  near  Utica. 


Brick  Company,  half  a  mile  south  of  the  river  at  Utica.  The  top  of  the 
coal  bed  is  very  much  crumpled;  above  it  are  several  inches  of  residual 
material;  and  above  this  is  fire  clay  mixed  with  till  and  grading  upward 
into  till.  Clay  pits  between  La  Salle  and  Peru  on  Sixth  Street  show 
similar  relations  between  drift  and  blue  clay  shales.  The  nature  of  the 
contact  varies  therefore  with  the  hardness  and  texture  of  the  bed  rock, 
being  sharp  where  the  material  is  resistant,  and  indistinct  where  it  is  soft. 
The  contact  also  depends  upon  the  character  of  the  surface  of  the  bed  rock. 
Where  the  rock  forms  an  elevation,  the  contact  is  commonly  definite,  and 
in  the  rock  depressions  considerable  weathered  material  may  be  left  beneath 
the  drift. 

2.  The  surface  of  the  drift  does  not  correspond  in  most  places  to  the 
surface  of  the  bed  rock.  Although  the  surface  of  the  bed  rock  falls  off 
sharply  west  of  Spring  Valley,  the  land  rises  in  this  direction.  Most  of  the 
pre-glacial  valleys  in  the  rock  (see  Chap.  Ill)  are  buried  so  effectively  as 


ICE  AGE  59 

not  to  leave  the  slightest  surface  evidence  of  their  existence.  The  topography 
of  the  upland  is  entirely  the  topography  of  the  drift,  except  along  Illinois 
River,  where  most  of  the  drift  has  been  removed,  and  to  some  extent  along 
Farm  Ridge,  which  appears  to  be  a  moraine  (ridge  of  drift)  emphasized 
by  an  unusual  elevation  of  bed  rock. 

3.  The  thickness  of  the  drift  varies  greatly,  being  thicker  in  the 
pre-glacial  valleys  and  thinner  above  the  pre-glacial  ridges  of  rock.  The 
average  thickness  of  the  drift  is  much  greater  than  is  common  for  a 
residual  soil,  being  well  over  50  feet  on  an  average  for  this  region.  The 
thinnest  drift  is  immediately  adjacent  to  Illinois  Valley,  particularly  in 
the  Morris  basin.  The  greatest  accumulations  of  drift  known  in  the  region 
are  (1)  in  the  old  valley  at  Princeton,  where  it  reaches  a  thickness  of  at 
least  350  feet,  (2)  north  of  Marseilles  in  Miller  Township  (250  feet),  and 
(3)  east  of  Grand  Ridge. 

4.  Tlie  composition  of  the  drift  is  not  limited  to  the  materials  of  the 
underlying  rock.  The  drift  in  one  part  of  the  area  does  not  vary  markedly 
from  the  drift  in  any  other  part,  although  it  overlies  different  formations 
in  different  places.  Limestone  is  the  most  important  stony  constituent  of 
the  drift,  whether  the  drift  covers  a  limestone  formation,  or  rests  upon 
shale  or  sandstone.  In  any  single  section  of  drift  are  found  not  only 
fragments  of  almost  all  kinds  of  sedimentary  rock,  but  many  kinds  of  rock 
entirely  foreign  to  this  region.  They  include  crystalline  rocks,  igneous 
and  metamorphic,  whose  nearest  possible  source  was  the  Lake  Superior 
region.  Averages  from  the  eastern  part  of  the  region  give  fully  50 
per  cent  of  the  smaller  stony  material  (about  1  inch  in  diameter)  as 
limestone,  about  25  per  cent  shale,  5  per  cent  chert,  5  per  cent  sandstone, 
and  the  remainder  igneous  rock.  Dark-colored  crystalline  rocks  (basic 
igneous  rocks  chiefly  dark  schists,  trap  rock,  and  gabbros)  outnumber  the 
light  crystalline  rocks  of  acid  composition,  such  as  granite,  by  a  ratio  of  at 
least  three  to  one.  Among  the  larger  bowlders,  the  percentage  of  igneous 
rock  increases  materially.  Occasionally  a  glittering  bit  of  hematite  tells 
of  its  source  in  the  iron  country  of  Lake  Superior. 

5.  The  drift  is  made  up  of  fresh,  not  weathered,  rock  materials. 
These  characteristics  of  the  drift  indicate  (1)  that  the  agent  which 
deposited  it  stripped  the  loose  weathered  material  from  the  surface  of 
the  bed  rock.  (2)  Some  of  the  bed  rock  it  smoothed  or  scratched.  (3)  In 
places  it  mixed  the  drift  with  the  bed  rock.  This  agent  also  was 
competent  (4)  to  deposit  great  thicknesses  of  drift  over  wide  areas, 
independently  of  the  character  of  the  underlying  surface.  (5)  The  agent 
which  formed  the  drift  collected  rocks  of  many  kinds  without  discrimination 
as  to  size,  (6)  ground  them  to  various  sizes  and  shapes,  and  (7)  transported 
them  great  distances.  Glacier  ice  can  do  these  things,  and  is  the  only 
agent  which  can. 


60 


UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 


Materials  of  Drift  and  Their  Origin 
till 

The  till,  bowlder  clay  or  "hard  pan"  as  it  is  commonly  called  in  this 
region,  forms  by  far  the  largest  part  of  the  drift.  Outside  Illinois  Valley, 
it  probably  makes  up  more  than  nine-tenths  of  the  mass  of  the  drift. 

Several  characteristics  of  the  till  show  that  it  was  formed  and 
deposited  directly  by  glacial  ice: 

1.  Most  striking  is  the  absolute  lack  of  assortment  of  its  materials. 
A  typical  section  of  till  shows  clay,  sand,  gravel,  and  bowlders  of  all  sizes 
mixed  together  indiscriminately.  The  main  body  of  the  till  consists 
generally  of  clay  (fig.  18). 


Fig.  18. — Glacial  till  along  Indian  Creek.    The  section  here  is  about  60  feet. 
dark  streak  slightly  below  the  top  of  the  section  is  a  bed  of  silt. 


The 


2.  Another  characteristic  is  the  large  size  of  some  of  the  material 
found  in  the  till.  Most  of  it  is  fine  enough  to  have  been  carried  by 
vigorously  flowing  water;  but  bowlders  larger  than  a  man's  head  are 
exceedingly  common.  They  are  strewn  over  valley  bottoms,  left  by  streams 
which  in  excavating  their  valleys  have  carried  away  the  fine  material  of  the 
till  but  left  the  large  rocks.  Here  and  there  fence  rows  are  piled  high  with 
rocks  taken  from  adjacent  fields.  Bowlders  weighing  several  tons  are  not 
uncommon,  and  a  few  of  those  in  the  region  weigh  ten  to  fifteen  tons.  Most 
of  these  are  of  distant  origin,  consisting  of  blocks  of  resistant  igneous  rock. 


ICE   AGE 


61 


Figure  L9  shows  one  on  South  Kickapoo  Creek,  weighing  about  ten  tons. 
The  carrying  of  10-ton  bowlders  for  five  hundred  miles  or  more,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  one  mentioned,  demands  a  transporting  agent  for  which  present 
conditions  offer  no  parallel  in  this  region. 


JHXmKssI    ^M^HflHHB^«n\fii^! 

1                   ^■Sit^S^-  ^^ 

EEs^^Pl 

Fig.  19. — Large  igneous  bowlder  on  South  Kickapoo  Creek.     Compare  the  size  with 
that  of  the  hammer  on  top  of  the  bowlder. 


Fig.  20. — Sketches   illustrating  the   characteristics   of  glaciated   bowlders. 


3.     Shapes  of  tJie  bowlders.     Many  of  the  stones  of  the  drift  have 
distinctive  shapes,  especially  flattened  sides  or  faces,  which  meet  at  vary- 


62  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

mg  angles  and  give  to  the  bowlders  a  subangular  form  (fig.  20).  A  well- 
glaciated  bowlder  has  neither  the  rounded  outline  of  a  water-worn  stone, 
nor  the  irregular  surface  and  jagged  edges  of  a  newly  broken  fragment 
of  rock.  The  flat  faces  have  no  particular  relation  to  each  other,  unless 
the  rock  has  a  tendency  to  break  along  certain  planes.  In  such  cases  the 
rock  has  been  flattened  along  its  planes  of  cleavage.  In  addition  to  planed 
faces,  glaciated  stones  commonly  show  linear  scratches  known  as  striae. 
Many  stones  have  been  well  polished  on  their  smooth  faces.  The  degree 
to  which  these  features  are  developed  depends  largely  on  the  hardness 
and  texture  of  the  rock ;  moderately  hard  limestones  are  more  apt  to  show 
them  than  friable  sandstones  or  excessively  hard  igneous  rock.  The  ma- 
jority of  the  stones  in  the  till  do  not  show  these  characteristics  to  any 
great  extent.  Many  of  them  are  not  very  different  from  water- worn  peb- 
bles or  broken  rock  fragments.  But  so  many  bowlders  are  well  planed 
and  striated,  and  so  many  others  show  these  characteristics  to  some  extent, 
that  they  become  significant.  The  subangular  forms,  particularly,  suggest 
that  the  bowlders  were  gripped  in  a  vise  and  planed.  This  vise  was  the 
ice  in  which  the  stones  were  imbedded  and  then  ground  by  friction  against 
its  bed,  and  against  other  bowlders.  The  stones  were  polished  by  the  fine 
material  carried  in  the  ice,  and  scratched  by  fragments  of  hard  rock  against 
which  they  scraped. 

4.  In  chemical  composition,  the  clay  of  the  till  differs  from  the  clays 
produced  by  weathering.  The  latter  are  known  as  residual  clays.  In  their 
making,  the  soluble  compounds  of  the  rock  are  leached  out  largely,  leaving 
the  insoluble  remainder  as  earthy  matter,  which  if  made  up  of  very  small 
particles,  is  commonly  called  clay.  Glacial  clay,  on  the  other  hand,  contains 
all  the  constituents  originally  present  in  the  rocks  which  were  ground  up  in 
its  formation.  It  may  properly  be  called  rock  flour,  as  it  is  the  fine  product 
of  the  grinding  of  rocks  in  the  glacier.  It  is  made  mostly  from  the  weaker 
rocks,  such  as  shales  which  crumbled  readily  under  the  pressure  of  the  ice. 
Fragments  of  shale  are  not  easily  recognizable  in  the  local  till,  although  it 
is  the  most  common  rock  constituent.  This  is  due  to  the  ease  with  which 
shale  was  ground  up  into  the  clay  which  forms  the  body  of  the  till. 

5.  The  till  occasionally  shows  a  kind  of  cleavage  in  wavy  lines.  Such 
cleavage  (foliation)  may  be  seen  in  the  gravel-pits  on  the  lower  road  to 
the  west  of  North  Kickapoo  Creek.  These  bands  are  not  a  feature  of 
deposition,  but  are  due  to  shearing  under  the  pressure  of  the  moving  ice. 

STRATIFIED  DRIFT 

Unlike  the  till,  the  stratified  drift  is  of  limited  distribution  and 
generally  of  slight  thickness.  It  was  deposited  by  waters  from  the  melting 
ice,  and  its  materials  were  assorted  into  beds  composed  of  sediments  of 
similar  sizes,   according  to  the  transporting  power  of  the  water  which 


ICE   AGE 


63 


deposited  them.  Most  of  the  stratified  drift  shows  distinct  planes  of 
bedding,  but  even  where  these  are  wanting  the  material  has  been 
assorted  by  stream  action.  Much  of  it  is  but  slightly  water  worn,  as  the 
time  during  which  it  was  in  transport  was  too  short  for  the  development 
of  water-rounded  surfaces.  The  stratified  drift  may  be  divided  into  two 
classes  according  to  its  distribution:  (1)  that  associated  with  present 
drainage  lines,  and  (2)  that  of  irregular  distribution,  not  in  valleys.  Each 
of  these  classes  may  be  divided  into  (a)  surface  deposits,  and  (b)  deposits 
covered  by  till. 

1.  The  most  conspicuous  beds  of  stratified  drift  are  those  in  Illinois 
Valley  and  in  the  valleys  of  its  larger  tributaries.  The  surface  deposits 
belong  to  two  groups.  The  first  group  is  composed  of  a  series  of  gravel 
beds  that  extend  westward  beyond  the  area  covered  by  this  report;  they 
lie  at  high  levels,  generally  near  the  top  of  the  valley  slopes,  extend  up  the 


Fig.  21. — Gravel  bed  of  coarsely  bedded  "high-level"  gravels  on  Cedar  Creek. 


larger  tributaries,  and  occur  in  beds  as  much  as  60  feet  thick.  They  will 
be  described  more  fully  in  the  succeeding  chapter,  as  the  "high-level" 
gravels  (fig.  21).  The  second  group  extends  into  this  area  from  the 
valleys  of  the  Dupage,  Desplaines,  and  Kankakee  rivers,  as  part  of  the 
Late  Wisconsin  valley  train.    These  beds  have  no  definite  limit  downstream, 


64  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

but  disappear  gradually  below  Marseilles.  They  are  at  lower  levels  than 
the  former  group  and  are  confined  more  nearly  to  the  main  valley.  They 
are  finer,  being,  on  the  whole,  sandy  rather  than  gravelly. 

Some  of  the  stratified  drift  of  the  valleys  is  covered  by  till.  The  two 
most  important  groups  of  this  kind  are  a  series  of  gravel  beds  between 
Seneca  and  Marseilles,  best  developed  on  the  northern  side  of  the  valley 
in  beds  up  to  70  feet  thick  to  be  described  later  as  the  "Kickapoo  beds," 
and  buried  gravels  and  sands  west  of  Peru  extending  beyond  Spring 
Valley.  The  latter  are  mostly  on  the  south  side  of  the  valley,  and  will  be 
discussed  later  as  the  "Peru  beds." 

2.  The  stratified  drift  outside  the  valleys  is  of  sparse  and  irregular 
distribution.  Here  and  there  patches  of  sandy  or  gravelly  material  may 
be  seen  on  the  prairie.  These  are  of  limited  extent  and  slight  thickness. 
An  occasional  knoll  of  gravel,  known  as  a  kame,  may  be  seen  along  the 
front  (west  side)  of  the  Farm  Ridge  moraine  and  similarly  on  the  head- 
waters of  Covel  Creek;  but  most  of  the  stratified  drift  is  not  so  disposed 
as  to  make  pronounced  topographic  features. 

The  materials  found  in  these  deposits  in  general  are  not  so  coarse  as 
those  in  the  beds  marginal  to  the  valleys.  The  sands  and  gravels  on  the 
prairie  were  deposited  in  large  part  by  water  which  flowed  over  a  rather  flat 
surface  and  without  great  velocity.  Bedding  is  generally  obscure  and  the 
gravels  in  many  places  have  some  clay  mixed  with  them  and  are  then  known 
locally  as  loamy  gravels.  In  large  part,  these  deposits  of  stratified  drift 
were  left  by  the  water  flowing  from  the  receding  ice  front. 

Buried  in  and  beneath  till  sheets  is  much  stratified  drift  which  has  no 
relation  to  existing  valleys.  This  drift  consists  in  many  places  of  thin 
sheets  of  sand  and  gravel  interleaved  with  till.  Such  material  is  found  in 
almost  all  the  wells  of  the  region.  (Sections  will  be  given  later.)  Here  and 
there  thicker  bodies  of  stratified  drift  lie  beneath  the  surface  till.  Beds  of 
this  sort  may  record  old  valleys  which  were  filled  in  part  by  glacial  waters, 
and  then  obliterated  by  the  deposition  of  till  above  them. 

LOESS 

Loess  is  typically  a  loam,  intermediate  in  texture  between  clay  and 
sand.  On  microscopic  examination  it  shows  many  flattened  particles. 
Though  altogether  uncemented,  a  vertical  face  of  it  once  developed  will 
stand  for  years  (fig.  22).  The  prevailing  color  is  buff,  but  drab  may  be 
seen  in  places.  Shells  of  land  snails  (gastropods)  are  common  in  loess. 
Most  of  its  material  locally  is  fresh  and  quite  calcareous,  concretions  of 
lime  carbonate  being  abundant  in  many  places.  Most  loess  is  now  commonly 
thought  to  have  been  dust  deposited  by  the  wind.  Much  loess  was  formed 
at  various  times  during  the  Ice  Age.  After  the  retreat  of  an  ice  sheet,  the 
sweep  of  the  winds  over  the  bare  surface  was  particularly    effective    in 


ICE   AGE 


65 


blowing  about  the  fine  material  left  by  the  ice.  As  soon  as  the  climate 
became  mild  enough  to  allow  the  growth  of  plants,  the  cover  of  vegetation 
arrested  the  accumulation  of  loess.  An  important  source  of  loess  was  the 
silt-laden  water  that  issued  from  the  melting  glacier,  and  built  up  great 
mud  flats  which,  in  drying,  supplied  the  prairie  winds  abundantly  with 
dust.  There  is  much  silt  very  similar  to  loess,  associated  with  the  drift 
of  this  region,  but  it  contains  occasional  bowlders  which  loess  lacks.  They 
imply  deposition  by  water,  in  which  floated  ice  containing  imbedded 
bowlders  that  were  dropped  on  melting. 

East  of  Spring  Valley  there  is  little  true  loess  at  the  surface.    West  of 
Spring  Valley  it  increases  in  amount,  and  is  well  developed  on  the  prairies 


W^^ 

.  .  :•%■•                       2';  !isl .  £]T  "ViB*; 

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— V     '*'■    -  '    .' ^*- — ^-* — ^— ~—L— — -J-"^f-,  -    A    , 

Fig.  22. — Loess  under  gravel  on  Spring  Creek, 
and  the  initials  carved  in  it. 


Note  the  vertical  sides  of  the  loess 


about  Bureau  Creek.  Here  it  attains  a  thickness  of  30  feet  in  places,  and  rests 
either  directly  on  till,  or  on  gravel  which  overlies  till.  The  prairie  east 
and  south  of  the  Hennepin  gravel  flats  is  covered  abundantly  by  buff  loess. 
In  very  restricted  patches  it  is  found  on  top  of  the  drift  east  of  Spring 
Creek,  as  on  Little  Vermilion  River  immediately  above  the  Matthiessen 
and  Hegeler  zinc  works,  and  again  east  of  Ottawa  at  the  crossing  of  the 
first  tributary  above  the  mouth  of  Fox  River  by  the  Marseilles  road. 

In  this  region  loess  is  much  more  abundantly  developed  between  sheets 
of  till  than  it  is  as  a  surface  formation.    In  this  older  loess,  remains  of  life 


66  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

are  scarce.    Good  sections  of  buried  loess  are  found  on  Indian  Creek,  and 
in  almost  every  bank  between  Morris  and  Seneca. 

UPLAND  CLAY 

Similar  in  many  respects  to  the  loess  is  a  heavy  clay  which  covers 
most  of  the  upland.  Although  of  almost  universal  distribution  in  this 
region,  this  upland  clay  is  more  extensively  developed  west  of  the 
Marseilles  till  ridge  than  east  of  it.  The  clay  in  the  western  region 
averages  about  three  feet  in  thickness,  and  at  Spring  Valley  it  is  as  much 
as  eight  feet  thick.  In  the  eastern  region  such  thicknesses  are  unknown. 
This  clay  is  always  the  surface  formation,  and  commonly  is  clearly 
differentiated  from  the  base  upon  which  it  rests.  It  apparently  has  no 
limit  in  elevation  but  generally  becomes  thinner  on  the  higher  ridges.  Its 
physical  characteristics  are  very  uniform.  When  cut,  the  clay  is  smooth, 
and  shows  a  well-polished  surface.  Occasional  bits  of  chert  are  found  in 
the  clay.  Its  color  is  brown  of  varying  shades,  but  in  thick  sections  may 
be  greenish.  It  has  a  closer  texture  than  loess  and  consequently  it  makes 
a  heavier  soil.  The  clay  lies  over  all  kinds  of  formations,  from  gravel  and 
till  to  bedded  rock,  without  showing  appreciable  variations  of  character. 
Its  probable  manner  of  origin  is  discussed  in  Chapter  V. 

Surface  of  Drift 

The  surfaces  formed  in  the  deposition  of  stratified  drift  by  water  are 
nearly  plane,  except  as  modified  by  subsequent  erosion.  The  surface  of  the 
till,  however,  is  undulatory.  From  a  distance  it  may  appear  level;  but 
viewed  at  close  range,  it  is  slightly  billowy,  due  to  numberless  gentle  swells 
and  shallow  sags.  In  this  region  the  prairie  is  commonly  so  flat  that  these 
undulations  readily  escape  notice.  Cultivation  has  helped  to  destroy  them 
by  plowing  down  the  swells  and  draining  the  depressions  which  formerly 
were  emphasized  by  small  marshes.  Unlike  water,  the  ice  which  deposited 
the  drift  was  able  to  get  rid  of  its  load  without  particular  reference  to 
slope,  and  to  deposit  it  with  an  uneven  surface. 

In  some  places  the  till  is  heaped  into  long  ridges  which  rise  a  hundred 
feet  or  more  above  the  surrounding  prairie.  These  are  known  as  moraines. 
The  principal  ones  within  this  region  have  been  previously  noted  and  are 
shown  in  figure  23. 

History  of  an  Ice  Sheet 

manner  of  development 

The  drift  was  deposited  by  great  ice  sheets  (glaciers  grown  to 
continental  proportions)  which  once  overspread  the  region.  Due  to 
atmospheric  and  climatic  changes,  it  is  believed  that  huge  snow  fields 
developed  in  the  northern  part  of  the  continent.    The  snow  fields  gradually 


ICE  AGE 


67 


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68  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

developed  into  ice  fields  similar  to  that  of  Greenland.  With  a  sufficient 
accumulation  of  snow  and  ice,  motion  began  through  pressure  resulting 
from  the  weight  of  the  ice,  and  the  ice  moved  outward  from  the  center 
of  the  ice  field  just  as  the  ice  of  Greenland  is  moving  out  toward  the 
borders  of  the  island.  The  principal  center  from  which  the  ice  moved  into 
this  region  was  in  Labrador. 

Within  a  glacier  every  particle  of  ice  is  moving  forward  almost 
constantly.  The  position  of  the  ice  front  at  any  time  depends  upon  the 
balance  between  the  rate  of  forward  motion  of  the  body  of  the  ice  and 
the  rate  at  which  the  ice  front  is  melted  back.  When  the  ice  is  pushing 
forward  more  rapidly  than  it  is  being  melted  back,  the  glacier  advances ; 
when  waste  exceeds  forward  motion,  the  ice  front  retreats.  Changes  of 
climate  caused  repeated  oscillations  of  the  ice  front.  At  times  the  ice 
retreated  hundreds  of  miles,  and  later  it  advanced  again,  perhaps  beyond 
the  area  which  it  had  lost.  The  northern  part  of  the  United  States  was 
thus  subjected  repeatedly  to  invasions  by  great  continental  ice  sheets, 
which,  at  the  time  of  their  maximum  development,  reached  as  far  south 
as  the  Ohio  and  the  lower  Missouri  rivers. 

WORK  OF  AN  ICE  SHEET 

By  reason  of  its  great  mass,  constant  direction  of  motion,  and  rigidity, 
the  ice  worked  effectively  in  modifying  the  surface  over  which  it  passed. 
The  ice  secured  a  load  of  foreign  material  ( 1 )  by  freezing  to  loose  material 
on  the  surface  over  which  it  advanced,  (2)  by  plowing  up  such  material, 
or  (3)  by  quarrying  it  out  in  dragging  its  great  weight  over  projecting 
steep  faces  of  rock,  such  as  cliffs.  Gradually  the  ice  stripped  the  surface 
of  its  loose  earth  and  planed  down  prominences  over  which  it  passed  with 
the  aid  of  the  rock  material  carried  in  its  bottom.  The  rock  fragments 
were  used  in  wearing  the  bed  of  the  glacier,  and  they  were  also  shifted 
about  within  the  ice  and  thus  suffered  wear  by  friction  with  each  other. 
The  extraordinary  eroding  power  of  a  glacier  lies  in  the  rigidity  with  which 
it  holds  the  stony  material  it  gathers,  so  that  it  uses  rock  fragments  in  its 
base  like  firmly  set  graving  tools  to  cut  the  rock  beneath.  Thus  the  stones 
within  the  glacier  were  planed,  striated,  and  made  subangular.  At  the 
same  time,  the  rock  base  over  which  movement  took  place  was  smoothed, 
striated,  and  grooved. 

After  getting  a  load,  the  ice  transported,  and  later  deposited  the 
material  which  it  had  gathered.  A  considerable  part  of  the  load  was 
carried  within  the  ice,  but  most  of  it  was  dragged  along  at  its  bottom 
where  most  material  was  available.  Glacier  ice  is  a  much  more  efficient 
carrier,  both  as  to  amount  and  size  of  material,  than  water.  Glacial 
bowlders,  of  a  size  which  water  could  never  have  moved,  were  carried  from 
Canada  to  the  Central  States  in  great  numbers.  The  shifting  of  much  of 
the  material  was  perhaps  intermittent,  for  as  the  bottom  of  the  glacier 


ICE   AGE  69 

melted,  the  material  it  carried  was  dropped  to  be  dragged  on  again  later. 
At  times  the  ice  became  overloaded,  particularly  during  periods  of  retreat 
of  the  ice  front,  and  much  material  was  then  dumped.  Deposition  was 
going  on  most  of  the  time  beneath  the  ice,  but  at  all  times  and  in  greatest 
quantity  at  its  edge.  Here  the  melting  ice  dropped  its  entire  load.  Since 
not  everywhere  was  an  equal  amount  of  material  carried  in  the  ice, 
deposition  was  unequal,  and  an  irregular  surface  was  formed.  Wherever 
the  edge  of  the  ice  remained  stationary  for  a  long  period,  the  deposits 
accumulating  beneath  its  edge  gradually  built  up  thick  morainic  ridges 
under  its  margin.  Their  size  is  a  sort  of  index  to  the  length  of  halt  of 
the  ice  front  at  a  given  place. 

Associated  with  the  ice  were  the  waters  formed  by  its  melting.  The 
most  important  of  these  were  ( 1 )  the  waters  which  collected  under  the  ice 
from  its  melting  base,  and  flowed  out  from  beneath  the  ice  to  join  (2)  the 
waters  issuing  from  the  ice  edge.  Deposition  by  streams  may  have  taken 
place,  therefore,  both  beneath  the  ice  and  beyond  its  margin,  Dut  mostly 
in  the  latter  place,  as  the  sub-glacial  streams  probably  carried  less  material, 
flowed  more  swiftly,  and  were  of  smaller  volume  than  tlie  great  streams 
which  poured  forth  from  the  extremity  of  the  glacier,  and  spread  broadly 
over  the  surface  of  the  land.  Where  the  waters  flowed  out  upon  a  flat 
surface,  they  deposited  their  materials  in  a  broad  belt  marginal  to  the 
ice  front,  and  the  surface  of  the  outwash  was  built  up  with  a  gentle  slope, 
forming  an  outwash  plain.  If  the  drainage  was  confined  to  a  valley,  the 
materials  were  deposited  in  a  similarly  sloping  flat,  but  greatly  elongated 
down  the  valley ;  this  is  known  as  a  valley  train.  If  the  waters  were  ponded, 
they  gave  rise  to  level  flats  of  fine  material  such  as  are  built  on  a  lake 
floor.  In  all  these  situations,  floating  fragments  of  ice  with  bowlders 
attached  were  carried  out  occasionally,  and  the  bowlders  were  dropped 
where  the  ice  grounded.,  or  where  its  melting  caused  them  to  be  set  free. 
Because  the  velocity  and  hence  the  carrying  ability  of  the  glacial  waters 
decreased  commonly  with  increasing  distance  from  the  front,  the  coarsest 
materials  were  deposited  first,  and  finer  and  finer  sediments  in  succession. 

Such  was,  in  brief  outline,  the  work  of  a  single  ice  sheet.  The  glacial 
record  shows  numerous  repetitions  and  interruptions  in  the  history  of 
glaciation.  Climatic  changes  caused  repeated  recessions  and  readvances  of 
the  ice.  In  some  cases  the  ice-free  intervals  were  long  enough  for  the 
reestablishment  of  vegetation,  and  in  such  cases  the  till  sheets  are  found 
separated  by  buried  soils.  In  North  America  five  or  six  distinct  glacial 
epochs  are  recognized,  each  being  separated  from  the  succeeding  one  by  a 
considerable  ice-free  interval.  During  some  of  the  latter  the  ice  is  known 
to  have  receded  hundreds  of  miles.  The  duration  of  the  whole  Ice  Age 
has  been  estimated  at  several  hundred  thousand  to  a  million  or  more  years.1 

1For   estimates  see  Chamberlin    and   Salisbury,   Earth    History,   vol.   Ill,  p.   420. 


70  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

History  of  Glaciation  in  Upper  Illinois  Valley 
erosive  work  of  the  ice 

The  amount  of  erosion  which  the  ice  accomplished  in  this  region  may 
be  estimated  roughly  from  the  thickness  and  constitution  of  the  drift.  The 
average  thickness  is  about  50  feet.  Practically  all  this  consists  of  fresh 
rock  materials;  rock  waste  formed  by  the  decay  of  rock  is  almost 
unrecognizable  in  the  local  drift.  Moreover,  on  a  conservative  estimate 
90  per  cent  of  the  drift  is  of  local  origin.  A  thickness  of  50  feet  of  ground- 
up  rock  points  therefore  to  the  erosion  of  an  almost  equal  amount  of  bed 
rock  by  the  ice.  Such  thicknesses  of  drift,  and  even  greater  ones,  are 
common  over  an  area  including  most  of  Illinois  and  southern  ana!  eastern 
Wisconsin.  The  local  thickness  of  drift,  therefore,  is  not  due  to  particularly 
favorable  local  conditions  of  deposition. 

All  surfaces  were  not  equally  affected  by  the  erosion  of  the  ice. 
Projecting  rock  masses  were  eroded  most  severely;  valleys  transverse  to 
the  movement  of  ice  were  sheltered  comparatively  from  the  attack  of  the 
ice.  The  greatest  erosion  was  on  the  sides  of  hills  facing  the  oncoming  ice, 
the  stoss  sides,  and  in  valleys  through  which  the  ice  passed  lengthwise. 
These  stoss  sides  were  planed  down  greatly,  whereas  their  lee  sides  were 
less  worn.  The  ice  moved  into  this  region  from  the  north  and  east  so 
that  on  these  sides  of  rock  hills  the  drift  is  thin,  and  the  bed-rock  surface 
has  been  planed  down  considerably.  On  the  lee  sides  of  the  hills  the  drift 
is  thicker,  and  beneath  it  may  be  left  some  weathered  rock  which  was  not 
disturbed  by  the  ice.  This  relation  is  shown  in  the  clay  pits  between 
La  Salle  and  Peru  on  Sixth  and  Seventh  streets,  in  which  the  material 
from  the  north  side  of  the  hill  (above  Seventh  Street)  was  stripped  off  by 
the  ice,  and  dumped  on  the  south  side  of  the  hill  below  Sixth  Street. 

The  most  readily  recognized  record  of  ice  erosion  consists  in  the  striae 
(scratches)  left  on  the  surface  of  the  bed  rock.  Locally,  these  are  not  seen 
readily,  both  because  many  of  the  underlying  rock  formations  do  not 
preserve  such  markings,  and  because  the  bed  rock  is  hidden  by  drift  in 
most  places.  The  various  limestones  have  preserved  such  markings  best; 
because  of  their  superior  compactness  and  even  texture  they  retain  the 
striae  in  distinct  form.  The  only  other  formation  on  which  glacial  markings 
of  any  kind  have  been  observed  is  the  St.  Peter  sandstone.  The  best  glacial 
striae  observed  are  on  Au  Sable  Creek,  one-half  mile  south  of  the  Kendall 
County  line;  here  the  Richmond  limestone  shows  well-striated  and  fairly 
well-polished  surfaces.  The  general  direction  of  the  striae  here  is  east- 
northeast  to  west-southwest,  the  striae  being  not  quite  parallel.  Some 
distance  below  outcrops  of  Platteville-Galena  limestone  on  the  Au  Sable 
show  similar  scratches.  With  coarser  tools,  greater  pressure,  and  less 
resistant  bed  rock,  deeper  markings,  known  as  grooves,  are  made.     They 


ICE   AGE  71 

are  best  developed  in  the  St.  Peter  sandstone  west  of  Ottawa,  particularly 
at  the  stripping  of  the  Federal  Plate  Glass  Company  and  in  the  ravine 
to  the  north  of  them.    A  fuller  description  of  these  grooves  is  given  later. 

EARLY  ICE  INVASIONS 

This  region  was  glaciated  repeatedly.  The  eastern  part  was  overspread 
by  at  least  four  great  ice  sheets  and  the  extreme  western  part  by  three. 
The  latest  ice  invasion,  however,  has  left  thick  deposits  over  most  of  the 
surface.  Evidences  of  earlier  glaciations  must  be  sought  mostly  along  the 
undercut  slopes  of  valleys.  The  older  drift  sheets  have  been  destroyed  in 
large  part,  and  the  distribution  of  their  remnants  is  very  limited.  Because 
till  varies  greatly  from  place  to  place  in  characteristics  and  has  no 
systematic  limits  in  its  vertical  distribution,  the  correlation  of  older  tills 
of  discontinuous  and  infrequent  exposure  may  never  be  reduced  to  a 
certainty,  but  must  remain  a  matter  of  judgment  based  on  the  weight  of 
probability.  The  central  area  of  this  region  was  an  upland  in  pre-glacial 
times.  It  was  exposed  to  erosion  by  each  successive  ice  sheet,  and  probably 
was  stripped  bare  of  its  cover  repeatedly.  On  this  upland  even  now  the 
till  is  thin  compared  with  its  development  in  the  large  buried  valleys. 
Along  the  margin  of  Illinois  Valley,  where  exposures  are  best,  the  drift  is 
thin,  and  in  many  places  entirely  wanting,  due  to  the  vigorous  stream 
action.  On  the  whole,  therefore,  this  region  does  not  present  very  favorable 
conditions  for  the  preservation  of  a  record  of  the  older  glaciations. 

The  older  buried  till  sheets  are  recognized  in  part  by  differences  in 
their  constitution,  but  chiefly  by  the  records  of  ice-free  intervals  which 
separate  them  from  the  younger  surface  till.  The  evidence  of  an 
interglacial  epoch  consists  ideally  of  (1)  the  remains  of  plant  or  animal 
life,  such  as  buried  soil  or  loess  containing  shells.  Other  evidences  are 
(2)  the  much  weathered  surface  of  a  buried  till,  or  (3)  large  beds  of 
stratified  drift  of  widespread  development  between  till  sheets.  Where  a 
number  of  these  features  are  developed  between  two  sheets  of  till  the 
conclusion  is  that  they  belong  to  different  epochs. 

For  considerable  periods  large  areas  were  freed  entirely  from  ice. 
During  these  times  the  surface  was  exposed  to  weathering.  Climatic 
changes  may  have  enabled  the  growth  of  vegetation.  As  the  ice  readvanced, 
the  weathered  and  soil-covered  surface  was  largely  removed,  but  here  and 
there  remnants  were  buried  which  record  the  existence  of  an  ice-free 
interval.  Portions  of  the  older  till  sheet  may  also  have  escaped  destruction. 
From  such  evidence,  the  conclusion  is  reached  that  east  of  Marseilles  the 
deposits  of  two,  and  probably  three,  ice  sheets  are  recorded;  west  and 
south  of  Peru,  the  record  of  a  still  earlier  ice  incursion  can  be  established. 
Several   selected   sections   are   given  below   which   illustrate   the   tills   at 


72  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

various  places.    These  show  remnants  of  tills  so  different  from  the  surface 
till  that  they  may  be  taken  to  represent  earlier  epochs  of  glaciation. 

1.  On  west  bank  of  creek  northwest  of  Seneca,  150  yards  above 
Marseilles  road,  a  section  of  about  50  feet  shows : 

Thickness 
Feet 
(5)     Stony,  buff  till,  very  calcareous,  with  line  of  bowlders 

at     top 20 

(4)  Pink,  gritty  till,  calcareous   (Marseilles  till) 20 

(3)  Loess,  quite  fresh,  light  and  yellow 2-4 

(2)  Gravels,  rather  fine,  weathered 2 

(1)  Basal    till — entirely    weathered,    almost    no    trace    of 

calcium  carbonate  left;  bowlders,  largely  decom- 
posed, although  they  still  retain  their  form;  ex- 
posed    5 

2.  On  Nettle  Creek  in  Grundy  County,  immediately  below  the 
Erienna-Saratoga  township  line,  a  till  similar  to  (1)  above  may  be  seen 
beneath  a  section  of  younger  blue  till.  The  lower  till  is  thoroughly 
leached,  deeply  cracked,  and  the  cracks  have  been  filled  with  sand.  The 
stony  material  is  weathered,  and  its  striae  are  effaced.  The  till  is  very 
gritty  in  texture.  Several  similar  sections  are  shown  on  Nettle  Creek  below 
the  railroad  bridge,  almost  as  far  downstream  as  the  Morris  Township  line. 

3.  On  Saratoga  Creek  a  somewhat  different  phase  is  developed  about 
one-half  mile  above  the  Morris  Township  line.  Here  the  lower  till  is  a 
residuum  of  brown  clay  with  much  sand  and  many  rotted  bowlders  of 
foreign  origin.  Immediately  upon  it  rests  a  highly  calcareous  laminated 
lake  clay  belonging  to  the  last  period  of  glaciation. 

4.  In  the  several  ravines  north  of  Marseilles  a  number  of  freshly  cut 
banks  show  at  their  base  an  old  till  which  has  been  oxidized  and  cracked 
and  is  very  stony.  This  is  separated  from  the  till  above  by  a  few  feet 
of  lake  clays  of  much  later  age. 

5.  The  Peru  beds  furnish  evidence  of  an  earlier  glaciation.  They  lie 
west  of  Peru  and  are  described  in  Chapter  VI. 

6.  On  upper  Cedar  Creek,  just  above  its  southward  bend  in  Eden 

Township,  a  section  shows: 

Thickness 
Feet 

(5)  Coarse    gravels,    usually    found    along    valleys    in    the 

western  region  ('  'High-level"  gravels) 5 

(4)  Smooth,  pink  till   (Bloomington  till) 15-20 

(3)  Loess,  several  feet  thick,  conforming  to  the  very  irreg- 

ular surface  of  the  bed  beneath 

(2)  Weathered  till,  much  cracked,  and  stones  in  it  decom- 

posed. The  till  is  highly  calcareous,  but  the 
calcium  carbonate  has  probably  seeped  in  from 
above  after  an  earlier  leaching 10-15 


ICE   AGE  73 

(1)  Gravels  and  sands,  yellowish  brown,  highly  oxidized. 
In  this  is  much  large  igneous  material,  which  is 
thoroughly  rotted 

The  conditions  of  weathering  of  the  lower  till  and  gravels  of  this 
section  point  to  a  long  period  during  which  the  older  till  was  exposed  to 
weathering  before  the  present  surface  till  was  deposited  over  it. 


Fig.  24. — Organic  deposits  buried  beneath  till  on  Spring  Creek:  A,  old  bog  con- 
taining half -decayed  root  fibers  and  many  snail  shells;  B,  fine  loess-like  silt;  C,  Bloom- 
ington  till. 

7.     On  west  bank  of  Spring  Creek,  about  a  mile  below  Dalzell  (fig.  24)  : 

Thickness 
Feet 

(3)      Bloomington    till 40 

(2)     Loess 15-20 

(1)     Silt  at  base  of  section  crowded  with  shells  and  roots  of 

plants   

WISCONSIN  GLACIAL  DEPOSITS 

GENERAL    DESCRIPTION 

All  but  a  very  small  part  of  the  till  of  this    region    belongs    to    the 
Wisconsin  epoch  of  glaciation,  the  closing  epoch  of  the  Ice  Age.     Most 


74  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

sections  of  Wisconsin  till  of  any  considerable  thickness  show  several  till 
sheets  which  may  remain  distinct  over  a  considerable  area.  Although  the 
distinction  between  them  is  clear  and  persistent,  it  is  not  of  such  a  character 
as  to  indicate  that  they  are  referable  to  distinct  ice  epochs,  but  rather  to 
stages  of  one  long  epoch  in  which  the  ice  front  was  subject  to  many 
oscillations.     Outwash  is  interbedded  fairly  abundantly  with  the  till. 

The  variety  of  conditions  during  the  Wisconsin  epoch  is  well 
illustrated  on  Indian  Creek  at  the  "High  Bluff,"  just  above  the  mouth 
of  Crooked  Leg  Creek.  This  is  probably  the  finest  exposure  of  till  in  all 
the  region  and  gives  a  section  of  almost  100  feet. 

Thickness 
Feet 

(8)     Sand  and  gravel  beneath  the  surface  clay 10 

(7)     Blue-gray  till,  very  compact,  matrix  fine  and  compact.        25 

(6)     Coarse  gravel,  material  slightly  water  worn 6 

(5)     Pink  till,  fresh,  gritty,  rather  stony 35 

(4)     Coarse  sand  and  gravel,  grading  into 

(3)     Pink  clay,  thin    bedded 3 

(2)     Blue-drab  till,  interbedded  with  sand 15 

(1)     Stratified    drift,   mostly   fine,   resting   upon    St.   Peter 

sandstone,  almost  at  creek  level 

This  great  section  shows  a  considerable  variety  of  conditions,  with 
three  distinct  till  sheets,  but  with  no  important  historical  break.  All  the 
tills  of  this  section  are  referred  to  the  last  glacial  epoch. 

BASIS  OF  SUBDIVISION  OF  THE  WISCONSIN   DEPOSITS 

The  character  of  the  Wisconsin  till  is  probably  much  influenced  by  the 
distribution  of  the  outcrops  of  the  various  rock  formations  over  which  the 
ice  passed,  and  this  influence  furnishes  a  partial  basis  for  the  further 
subdivision  of  this  period  into  three  minor  divisions.  The  till  of  the 
western  half  of  the  area  and  the  basal  portions  of  the  till  in  the  eastern 
half,  are  commonly  brightly  colored.  Two  colors  predominate  in  fresh 
sections,  blue  (in  places  drab),  and  till  with  a  pinkish  cast.  In  many 
places,  though  not  everywhere,  the  pinkish  till  appears  to  be  a  phase  of 
the  blue  till  which  has  been  exposed  to  weathering  and  is  somewhat 
oxidized.  In  most  places  it  lies  above  the  blue  till,  but  in  a  few  places 
single  beds  show  a  blending  of  the  two  colors.  Where  these  brightly 
colored  tills  are  observed  beneath  the  younger  dull-colored,  bufnsh  till 
which  occurs  at  the  surface  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  region,  the  contrast 
is  striking.  The  surface  till  of  the  eastern  part  of  the  region  is  generally 
buff-drab  in  color,  more  clayey  and  somewhat  less  stony  than  the  tills 
below,  and  carries  fewer  beds  of  stratified  material.  It  appears  that  the 
older  Wisconsin  till  (in  the  western  part  of  the  area)  is  most  highly 
colored,  that  the  till  of  intermediate  Wisconsin    age    (about   Marseilles) 


ICE   AGE  75 

carries  less  highly  colored  clay,  and  that  the  youngest  till  (in  Grundy 
County)  is  dull  colored.  The  probable  explanation  is  to  be  found  in  the 
distribution  of  the  bed  rock.  The  "Coal  Measures"  underlie  most  of  the 
region,  but  their  present  eastern  margin  extends  only  slightly  beyond  the 
head  of  Illinois  River.  In  this  series  gaudy  clays  and  clay  shales  are 
abundant.  In  its  earlier  invasions  the  ice  found  these  materials  farther 
east  than  they  lie  at  present,  but  by  repeated  erosion  gradually  stripped 
them  off  entirely  east  of  Channahon,  and  in  time  exposed  the  underlying 
limestones,  chiefly  of  Niagaran  age.  On  this  theory,  the  ' '  Coal  Measures ' ' 
clays  were  thus  largely  incorporated  in  the  older  tills,  and  deposited  in 
the  western  part  of  the  area.  The  later  till,  however,  was  formed  chiefly  by 
the  grinding  up  of  the  limestone  that  had  remained  covered  more  generally 
during  the  earlier  ice  invasions.  In  this  manner  the  duller  color,  and 
greater  content  of  calcium  carbonate  of  the  till  about  the  head  of  Illinois 
Valley  is  explained.  In  this  difference  of  source  of  materials,  in  the  areal 
distribution  of  the  different  till  sheets,  and  in  the  persistent  development 
of  stratified  materials  between  them,  are  found  the  bases  for  a  tentative 
subdivision  of  the  Wisconsin  epoch  as  outlined  in  the  following  paragraphs. 

BLOOMINGTON    MORAINE   AND  TILL   SHEET 

The  maximum  extension  of  the  Wisconsin  ice  carried  the  ice  front 
westward  as  far  as  western  Bureau  County,  and  southward  as  far  as 
Bloomington.  At  this  stage  the  ice  made  a  long  halt  and  developed  a  thick 
terminal  moraine,  known  as  the  Bloomington  moraine,  which  lies  some 
distance  west  and  south  of  this  region.  While  the  ice  covered  this  region 
and  as  it  melted  away,  it  deposited  a  cover  of  drift  which  forms  the  present 
surface  of  a  large  part  of  the  prairies  of  Bureau  County  and  of  western 
La  Salle  County.  The  topography  of  this  region  is  that  of  a  flat  ground 
moraine  with  almost  indistinguishable  swells  and  sags.  The  absence  of 
depressions  is  shown  by  the  lack  of  marshes  and  ponds.  The  general 
flatness  of  this  surface  is  broken  by  the  Princeton  moraine  (fig.  23),  which 
extends  northeastward  from  the  river  at  Depue.  This  moraine  was  formed 
probably  during  a  halt  in  the  recession  of  the  ice. 

The  Bloomington  till  is  the  oldest  till  of  the  Wisconsin  series,  and  the 
most  highly  colored,  probably  because  it  contains  the  greatest  quantity  of 
material  from  the  Carboniferous  clays.  The  till  is  rather  gritty  in  texture 
and  carries  many  water-worn  stones,  particularly  cherts.  A  striking 
peculiarity  of  the  till  consists  in  the  perfect  molds  which  these  pebbles 
leave  in  the  till,  due  in  part  to  their  smooth  surfaces,  and  in  part  to  the 
compactness  of  the  matrix.  Eastward  the  till  appears  with  considerable 
regularity  under  younger  till  sheets.  In  the  eastern  region  it  is  recognized 
by  its  distinctive  color  and  compactness,  and  commonly  also  by  a  bed  of 
stratified  drift  which  separates  it  from  the  younger  till  above.     The  basal 


76 


UPPER  ILLINOIS   VALLEY 


tills  in  the  sections  previously  given  show  this  oldest  Wisconsin  till. 
stratified  material  at  its  top  is  most  commonly  loess-like  silt. 


The 


MARSEILLES    MORAINE    AND    TILL    SHEET 


The  second  phase  of  the  Wisconsin  ice  epoch  consisted  in  its  readvance 
to  Marseilles  and  the  formation  of  the  Marseilles  moraine,  more  familiarly 
known  as  the  Rutland  Hills  and  Mission  Ridge  (fig.  23).  Along  this 
nelt,    the    edge    of    the    ice    remained    stationary    for    a    long    time,    and 


Fig.  25. — Folded  lake  clays  above  sand  quarry  at  Wedron.  The  light  material  at 
the  top  of  the  section  is  till;  beneath  it  lie  horizontal  glacial  clays;  next  lower  at  the 
left  hand  side  of  the  view  is  a  small  fold  in  a  similar  lacustrine  clay. 


made  the  largest  terminal  moraine  of  the  region,  a  till  ridge 
in  places  10  miles  wide  and  100  to  125  feet  high.  On  each  side 
of  the  river  the  moraine  divides  into  several  ridges,  the  most  prominent 
of  which  crosses  the  Illinois  at  Marseilles.  A  smaller  ridge  crosses  the 
river  at  Walbridge's  Creek,  and  other  minor  ridges  appear  here  and 
there  along  the  moraine.  Farm  Ridge,  near  Utica,  is  probably  an  outlying 
western  member  of  the  Marseilles  series.  Although  the  ice  front  stood  in 
this  general  position  for  a  long  while,  a  part  of  it  was  subject  to  minor 
oscillations,  in  which  it  formed  these  secondary  ridges. 


ICE   AGE  77 

The  Marseilles  moraine  appears  to  have  been  built  after  a  readvance 
of  the  ice  front,  and  not  merely  during  a  recessional  halt.  Its  till  shows 
characteristics  quite  different  from  those  of  the  underlying  till.  The  two 
are  nearly  everywhere  separated  by  thick  beds  of  finely  stratified  material 
which  could  hardly  have  accumulated  beneath  the  ice.  The  stratified 
drift  between  the  Marseilles  and  Bloomington  till  is  fresh  and  was  derived 
from  the  readvancing  ice.  If  the  gravel  beds  along  the  upper  slopes  of 
the  Illinois  are  correctly  correlated  with  this  stage,  this  stratified  drift  rests 
upon  a  surface  which  in  places  shows  weathering,  and  even  buried  vegeta- 
tion. Below  these  "high-level"  gravel  beds,  east  of  Utica,  a  foot  or  more 
of  peat  overlies  the  Bloomington  till. 

The  Marseilles  till  is  less  brightly  colored  and  less  compact  than  the 
Bloomington  till  beneath  it.  In  the  Marseilles  moraine,  pockets  of 
irregularly  stratified  water-worn  material  are  rather  more  common  than 
in  other  till  sheets.  The  Marseilles  till  forms  the  surface  drift  eastward 
from  the  moraine  to  the  Morris  basin.  On  the  whole,  the  matrix  of  the  till 
is  fine,  cuts  with  a  smooth  surface,  and  contains  an  abundance  of  striated 
stones.  Good  sections  are  exposed  on  the  tributaries  of  Fox  River,  on  Covel 
Creek,  and  on  Nettle  Creek. 

A  section  of  this  till,  exposed  in  the  Marseilles  moraine  at  the  first 
sand  pit  south  of  Wedron,  is  illustrated  partially  in  figure  25.    The  section 

is  as  follows: 

Thickness 
Feet 

(7)      Gray-pink  till,  fairly  stony  (Marseilles) 5 

(6)      Sands  and  gravels  of  disturbed  stratification 8 

(5)      Sands  and  gravels,  horizontally  bedded 20 

(4)     Drab    to    blue    calcareous    clays,    horizontally    bedded 

(Bloomington) 5 

(3)  Finely  laminated  buff  silts,  as  many  as  50  laminae 
to  the  inch  in  places;  the  clay  is  folded  into  a 
sharp    arch    beneath    the    horizontal    drab     clays 

which  overlie  it 2-3 

(2)     Coarse  and  ill-worn  sediments,  and  clay,  which  may  be 

till    0-2 

(1)     St.  Peter  sandstone,  surface  smooth 

The  upper  till  (7)  belongs  to  the  Marseilles  till  sheet.  In  it  are  a 
number  of  small  beds  of  gravel  that  are  tilted  on  end.  These  were  picked 
up  by  the  ice,  carried,  and  deposited  while  frozen.  In  (6)  the  ice  overrode 
a  bed  of  stratified  material  and  plowed  up  its  upper  portion.  The  relation 
of  (3)  and  (4)  in  which  disturbed  lake  clays  underlie  similar  undisturbed 
clays,  suggests  that  the  deposition  of  (3)  took  place  in  a  shallow  lake,  in 
which  the  ice  crumpled  up  the  clays  on  its  floor. 


78 


UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 


LATE   WISCONSIN   TILL   SHEET,    MINOOKA   RIDGE,   AND   VALPARAISO   MORAINE 

The  Minooka  Ridge  extends  northwestward  from  the  head  of  Illinois 
River  through  Minooka,  and  merges  into  the  Valparaiso  moraine  north  of 
Will  County.     Figure  26  gives  a  view  overlooking  the  Morris-Kankakee 


Fig.  26. — Kankakee-Morris  flat  as  seen  from  Minooka  Eidge. 


flat  from  the  southern  end  of  the  ridge.  At  its  western  base  flows  Au  Sable 
Creek,  and  on  the  east  Dupage  River.  At  Minooka  the  ridge  has  a  width 
of  about  three  miles.  It  is  a  moraine  that  rises  about  60  to  80  feet  above 
the  low  prairie  on  each  side.  Its  surface  is  even  more  devoid  of  irregularities 
than  that  of  the  moraines  to  the  west,  and  its  slopes  are  even  gentler. 
Eastward,  against  the  sky  line  from  Minooka,  lies  the  Valparaiso  moraine 
(fig.  27),  deposited  about  the  southern  extremity  of  Lake  Michigan  in  a 
great  loop.  The  Valparaiso  moraine  forms  the  divide  between  Desplaines 
River  and  Lake  Michigan  for  a  considerable  distance.  The  Minooka  Ridge 
is  much  smaller  than  the  Valparaiso  moraine,  and  parallels  it  closely  west 
of  the  Desplaines  and  Dupage  rivers. 

These  two  ridges  and  the  drift  of  the  country  between  them  are 
deposits  of  the  Wisconsin  ice.  The  Minooka  Ridge  has  been  considered  as 
marking  the  greatest  extension  of  the  ice  sheet,  a  frontier  line,  as  it  were, 
to  the  great  Valparaiso  moraine  farther  east. 


ICE  AGE 


79 


Within  this  area  a  differentiation  of  the  Wisconsin  glaciation  into  two 
distinct  epochs  does  not  appear  valid,  as  the  so-called  Late  Wisconsin  till 
of  the  Minooka  Ridge  is  not  separated  from  that  of  the  so-called  Early 
Wisconsin  till  at  Marseilles  by  any  great  break.  The  till  has  a  somewhat 
different  color,  being  the  dull,  buff  clay  of  the  eastern  region  mentioned 
above.  It  is  less  gritty,  softer,  and  more  calcareous  than  the  tills  to  the 
west.      Limestone,    mostly    of    Niagaran    age,    is   its    all-important    stony 


Fig.  27. — View  across  Desplaines  Valley.     The  river  is  marked  by  the  trees  in  the 
foreground,  and  the  skyline  by  the  Valparaiso  moraine. 


constituent.  Stratified  drift  is  almost  wanting.  The  Minooka  till  may  be  seen 
to  overlie  the  older  till  at  many  places  with  a  sharp  line  of  contact,  and  with 
clearly  distinguished  characteristics.  But  beyond  these  features  there  is 
as  yet  no  indication  within  this  region  of  a  break  which  would  warrant 
the  establishment  of  a  separate  glacial  epoch  for  the  till  in  the  Minooka 
Ridge. 

MORRIS  BASIN 

The  shallow  cuts  of  till  shown  in  the  Morris  Basin  present  a  rather 
uncertain  record  of  the  glacial  history  of  this  region.  The  basin  lies 
between    the    Marseilles    moraine    and    the    Minooka    Ridge.       Previous 


80  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

classifications  have  placed  its  surface  drift  within  the  Early  Wisconsin, 
and  have  located  the  extreme  western  margin  of  the  Late  Wisconsin  till 
sheet  at  the  Minooka  Ridge.  There  is  satisfactory  evidence  that  two  till 
sheets  are  found  in  the  Morris  basin,  the  soft  buff  till  occurring  in  quantity 
above  the  firmer  blue  till  of  the  Marseilles  stage.  Many  excellent  sections 
are  shown  in  the  western  part  of  the  basin,  on  Armstrong's,  Bill's,  and  Hog 
Run.     The  following  sections  show  relations  typical  for  the  Morris  basin : 

Section  of  Morris  basin  on  lower  Bill 's  Run  at  the  lower  road  crossing 

Thickness 
Feet 

(4)  Till,  largely  derived  from   (3) 5 

(3)  Blue,  bedded   clay,  very  calcareous,    smooth,    and    in 

places  finely  laminated 15 

(2)  Typical  blue  till,  compact    (Marseilles  stage) 10 

(1)  Sands  and  gravels,  horizontally  bedded 

Section  of  Morris  basin  on  Hog  Bun,  north  bank,  at  crossing  of  Kankakee  and 

Seneca  B.  B. 

(5)  Buff  till,  well-glaciated  stones 5 

(4)  Blue  clay,  finely  laminated 8 

(3)  Sand  and  gravel 3 

(2)  Till,  blue-pink,  compact about         5 

(1)  Clear,   coarse    sand 35 

Section  of  Morris  basin  on  Hog)  Bun,  across  creek  from  above  section,  and  a 

few  rods  upstream 

(6)  Till,  buff,  soft about         5 

(5)  Blue  clay,  finely  laminated 20 

(4)  Silt  and  sand 5 

(3)  Pink-blue  till,  brightly  colored,  variegated 10 

(2)  Fine  sand  and  good  loess 

( 1 )     Coarse    sands 20 


Sections  might  be  quoted  at  length  from  this  region  all  of  which  would 
show: 

(3)  A  thin  capping  layer  of  till,  identical  to  all  appearances  with 
the  till  of  the  Minooka  Ridge. 

(2)  Stratified  drift,  largely  blue  lacustrine  clays,  of  a  color  and 
composition  which  makes  them  appear  to  have  been  closely  connected  in 
origin  with  the  till  beneath.  Figure  28  shows  such  clays,  which  are 
utilized  in  the  tile  works  at  Morris. 

(1)     At  the  base  is  found  the  typical  Marseilles  till. 

From  these  sections  it  appears  that  the  Morris  basin  was  ponded  by 
the  Marseilles  moraine,  which  was  thrown  across  Illinois  Valley.     After 


ICE    AGE 


HI 


the  ice  of  the  Marseilles  stage  had  withdrawn  from  the  region,  a  lake  was 
formed  above  Marseilles,  and  thicknesses  of  clays  were  laid  down  in  it, 
ranging  in  places  up  to  20  to  30  feet.  The  accumulation  of  these  clays 
points  to  a  rather  long  ice-free  interval  for  this  immediate  region,  though 
the  ice  may  not  have  been  far  away.  The  readvancing  Late  Wisconsin  ice 
covered  the  basin  and  extended  beyond,  probably  as  far  as  Seneca.  This 
ice-sheet  held  its  most  advanced  position  for  a  short  time  only,  during 
which  it  deposited  a  thin  bed  of  till  over  the  lake  clays  of  the  Morris  basin, 
and  then  melted  back  to  the  vicinity  of  Minooka. 


-  >:. 


FlG.   28. — Lacustrine  glacial   clays   at  the  tile  works  at  Morris.      These  clays   are 
exceedingly  fine  in  texture  and  very  finely  bedded. 


LOESS 

True  loess  is  confined  mostly  to  the  region  west  of  Spring  Valley. 
This  may  have  been  blown  up  from  the  broad  Illinois  Valley  about 
Hennepin  just  after  the  ice  melted  from  the  region.  Here  deposition  by 
the  stream  was  particularly  heavy,  the  velocity  of  the  water  being  checked 
as  it  entered  the  larger  valley.  Extensive  deposits  of  silt  probably  were 
made  at  times,  and  when  dry  the  silt  was  swept  up  out  of  the  valley  by  the 
wind,  and  deposited  over  the  prairie  region.  Evidence  of  its  eolian  origin 
is  found  in  the  indefinite  limits  of  its  vertical  distribution.  It  forms  a 
mantle  of  rather  uniform  thickness  overlying  the  undulating  till  surface 


82  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

of  the  prairie.     So  even  a  distribution,  irrespective  of  elevation,  cculd  be 
effected  in  all  probability  only  by  the  action  of  the  wind. 

UPLAND  CLAY 

Distinct  from  the  loess  is  the  upland  clay.  This  was  probably  formed 
in  part  by  the  waters  flowing  from  the  receding  ice  over  the  flat  upland. 
The  wind  aided  in  the  further  distribution  of  the  clay  and  obliterated  any 
original  well-defined  limitations  which  it  may  have  had.  Other  factors 
were  also  probably  concerned  in  its  development,  many  of  which  are  still 
in  operation,  such  as  the  blowing  about  of  dust  by  the  wind  whenever  the 
surface  of  the  prairie  becomes  dry;  the  work  of  burrowing  animals, 
particularly  earthworms;  and  the  decay  of  surface  material,  aided  by 
vegetation.  That  the  upland  clay  is  more  than  a  residual  clay,  however, 
is  shown  by  its  universal  occurrence  in  rather  constant  thicknesses  above 
till,  gravel,  and  bed  rock  of  all  kinds,  without  appreciable  variations  of 
characteristics.  Unlike  residual  clay,  the  clay  also  shows  usually  a  clearly 
defined  contact  with  the  formation  which  it  overlies.  These  characteristics 
point  to  the  aid  of  either  wind  or  water  or  both  in  its  formation. 

SUMMARY 

In  this  region  are  recorded  a  series  of  successive  ice  invasions. 
Evidence  of  at  least  one  invasion  earlier  than  those  of  the  Wisconsin  epoch 
is  preserved  in  bits  of  buried  and  weathered  till,  soil,  and  stratified  drift 
beneath  the  Wisconsin  drift.  The  Wisconsin  epoch  seems  here  to  be  divided 
into  three  stages,  rather  than  into  two,  the  three  probably  not  separated  by 
large  intervals :  ( 1 )  The  maximum  extension  of  the  ice  was  attended  by 
the  making  of  the  Bloomington  moraine;  (2)  after  a  recession  of  fairly 
long  duration,  the  ice  readvanced  and  formed  the  Marseilles  moraine; 
(3)  during  the  last  stage  of  glacial  extension  the  small  Minooka  Kidge  was 
built  and  a  thin  sheet  of  drift  probably  was  spread  over  the  Morris  basin. 
After  a  slight  retreat  of  the  ice  in  this  stage  the  great  Valparaiso  moraine 
was  formed.  All  of  these  stages  had  associated  with  them  abundant  glacial 
waters  that  carried  out  great  quantities  of  gravel,  sand,  and  silt. 

Advantages  of  a  Giaciated  Area 

Glaciation  has  brought  to  this  region  a  great  many  benefits,  whereas 
it  has  entailed  drawbacks  which  are  but  few  in  number  and  small  in  their 
significance.  For  a  proper  valuation  of  the  importance  of  glaciation  to 
human  interests,  present  conditions  must  be  compared  with  pre-glacial 
conditions  as  they  are  thought  to  have  been.  These  may  be  reconstructed 
from  the  local  history  of  the  region,  and  from  a  comparison  of  unglaciated 
sections  with  adjacent  drift-covered  areas  similarly  situated. 


ICE   AGE  83 

SMOOTHING  OF  THE  SURFACE 

It  has  been  shown  that  the  present  surface  of  the  land  is  much  less 
irregular  than  was  the  surface  before  glaciation.  Communication  in  a 
region  dissected  by  many  valleys  is  both  difficult  and  devious;  roads  are 
forced  to  take  a  roundabout  course  in  following  valleys  or  in  winding  along 
ridges,  and  even  so,  transportation  is  difficult  because  steep  grades  cannot 
be  avoided  entirely.  The  different  ice  sheets  spread  a  smooth  cover  over 
the  older  uneven  surface,  and  thus  made  communication  easy,  (see 
Chap.  II). 

In  providing  an  almost  level  surface,  glaciation  also  has  aided 
agriculture,  by  making  the  extensive  use  of  machinery  possible,  and  by 
minimizing  the  dangers  of  soil  destruction  through  erosion.  On  the  prairies, 
almost  every  foot  of  ground  may  be  cultivated.  In  regions  of  residual 
soils,  especially  if  they  have  much  relief,  many  of  the  slopes  are  too  steep 
or  have  too  little  soil  to  be  cultivated. 

CONTRIBUTION  TO  SOILS 

1.  Glaciation  has  increased  greatly  the  thickness  of  the  loose  material 
that  overlies  the  bed  rock.  In  this  region  the  drift  averages  about  50 
feet  in  thickness,  and  almost  the  entire  50  feet  needs  only  weathering  and 
the  accumulation  of  a  little  vegetable  matter  to  become  soil.  Glaciation  has 
thus  made  provision  for  a  deep  soil,  underlain  by  an  almost  inexhaustible 
subsoil.  In  unglaciated  regions  similarly  situated,  such  depths  of  soil  and 
subsoil  are  exceptional,  and  the  thinness  of  the  soils  and  the  consequent 
danger  of  their  exhaustion  are  serious  problems  in  most  unglaciated 
uplands. 

2.  Locally  the  ice  has  provided  uniformity  in  soils  to  a  remarkable 
degree.  In  this  region  there  is  almost  every  variety  of  sedimentary  rock, 
but  the  drift  which  overlies  them  is  nearly  uniform  in  character  no  matter 
what  formation  occurs  beneath  it. 

3.  The  extremely  high  quality  of  the  soil  resulting  from  glaciation 
has  aided  the  agricultural  development  of  the  prairie  region.  The  soil 
formed  by  the  weathering  of  the  drift  differs  markedly  from  that  formed 
by  the  weathering  of  the  bed  rock  in  that  it  contains  more  soluble  mineral 
matter.  These  soluble  compounds  include  the  most  valuable  plant  foods. 
In  the  older  drift  sheets  the  loss  by  leaching  is  more  than  in  the  younger, 
and  the  productivity  of  the  soils  is  correspondingly  reduced.  The  soils 
of  the  upper  Illinois  Valley  made  from  the  youngest  till  sheets,  have  lost 
relatively  little  plant  food  through  leaching. 

4.  The  local  drift  is  composed  of  rock  fragments  and  rock  flour 
derived  from  a  variety  of  formations.  It  contains  large  contributions  from 
nearly  every  rock  formation  for  scores  of  miles  to  the  north  and  east,  and 


84  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

some  from  formations  hundreds  of  miles  to  the  north.  Since  the  soil  has 
been  derived  from  rocks  of  many  kinds,  it  contains  a  very  wide  variety  of 
mineral  constituents.  All  the  elements  required  for  the  successful  growth 
of  vegetation  are  present  in  satisfactory  proportions.  The  result  is  a  soil 
of  lasting  fertility,  which  is  suited  to  the  production  of  most  crops  which 
can  be  grown  in  this  climate.  Residual  soil  commonly  contains  certain 
elements  in  inexhaustible  abundance,  but  because  it  is  limited  in  its 
composition  to  the  mineral  elements  found  in  the  formation  from  which 
it  has  been  formed,  some  important  plant  foods  are  not  uncommonly 
deficient.  This  means  that  in  most  residual  soils  fertilizing  becomes  a 
necessity  earlier  than  in  good  glacial  soils.  As  the  region  contains  some 
of  the  best  glacial  lands  in  the  world  commercial  fertilizers  have  played 
an  unimportant  part  to  date  in  the  expenses  of  the  La  Salle  or  Grundy 
County  farmer.  The  prices  of  farm  land  and  the  crops  grown  bear 
eloquent  testimony  to  the  fruitful  nature  of  the  soil  after  two  generations 
of  cultivation. 

5.  Another  peculiar  advantage  of  glacial  soils  lies  in  their  fine  texture. 
The  till  of  this  region  contains  some  groundup  sandstone,  both  from  the 
' '  Coal  Measures ' '  and  from  the  St.  Peter  formation,  mixed  with  much  clay 
derived  from  shales  and  with  ground-up  limestone.  Much  of  the 
rock  crushed  and  ground  by  the  ice  was  not  reduced  to  the  fineness  of  clay, 
and  a  small  amount  of  coarse  material  is  therefore  found  in  the  till,  which 
gives  to  the  soil  and  subsoil  a  certain  degree  of  porosity.  The  soil  of  the 
region  on  the  whole  can  be  classified  as  a  rather  heavy  clay  loam.  The 
advantages  of  such  a  soil  are  numerous  compared  with  the  excessively  heavy 
soil  formed  by  the  decomposition  of  certain  limestones  or  shales,  or  with 
the  light  soils  derived  from  sandstone  alone.  The  soil  breaks  up  well 
under  the  plow  and  warms  rather  readily.  It  is  fine  enough  to  hold  water 
well,  and  withstands  drought  splendidly.  In  its  original  condition  it  is 
somewhat  deficient  in  drainage,  a  slight  fault  which  has  been  corrected 
generally  by  tile  drainage.  The  fineness  of  many  of  its  particles  also 
makes  the  plant  food  contained  in  it  readily  accessible  to  the  roots  of 
plants. 

The  stratified  material  interbedded  with  the  till  furnishes  in  places 
an  especially  desirable  subsoil.  In  parts  of  the  Morris  basin,  the  thick 
surface  soil  of  the  usual  clayey  loam  is  underlain  at  some  depth  by  beds 
of  sand  or  fine  gravel.  The  combination  furnishes  a  soil  of  great 
productivity,  which  is  particularly  warm  and  well  drained. 

6.  The  contribution  of  the  upland  clay  to  the  agriculture  of  the 
region  is  worthy  of  separate  mention.  In  the  western  half  of  La  Salle 
County,  especially  along  Illinois  Valley,  the  upland  clay  forms  the 
immediate  surface,  and  determines  entirely  the  quality  of  the  soil.  The 
upland  clay  is  of  finer  texture,  somewhat  more  weathered  than  the  till,  and 


ICE   AGE  85 

furnishes  a  heavier  soil.  Near  the  valley,  the  till  is  wanting  or  very  thin 
in  many  places,  and  either  coarse  gravel  or  bare  bed  rock  takes  its  place. 
The  soil  which  could  have  formed  from  gravel  or  bed  rock  in  the  time 
that  has  elapsed  since  glaciation  would  be  of  slight  thickness.  Over  all 
this  ice-smoothed,  gravel-strewn  area,  however,  is  a  mantle  of  upland  clay 
from  3  to  8  feet  thick,  which  has  provided  this  zone  marginal  to  the  river 
with  approximately  as  productive  a  soil  as  is  that  underlain  by  till.  The 
farm  land  about  Utica  is  formed  largely  from  this  upland  clay,  which  here 
rests  upon  the  St.  Peter  sandstone ;  no  difference  in  fertility  can  be 
observed  between  this  soil  and  that  of  the  till  farms  of  Rutland  or  Miller 
townships.  Along  Cedar  Creek  are  highly  productive  fields  of  this  clay 
underlain  by  30  or  40  feet  of  coarse  gravel. 

AVhcre  the  upland  clay  overlies  till  it  has  contributed  a  benefit  of  a 
different  sort.  In  many  parts  of  the  till-covered  country  of  extreme 
northern  Illinois  and  Wisconsin,  the  farmer  finds  a  serious  problem  in  the 
disposal  of  the  bowlders,  large  and  small,  which  cover  his  fields.  In  striking 
contrast  are  the  stone-free  fields  and  fence  rows  of  the  upper  Illinois  Valley. 
The  till  carries  almost  as  many  bowlders  here  as  it  does  north  of  it,  but 
most  of  them  have  been  buried  safely  beneath  the  reach  of  the  plow  by  the 
mantle  of  upland  clay. 

The  soils  of  the  region  may  be  divided  into  three  classes:  (1)  the 
prairie  soils  of  glacial  origin,  which  cover  by  far  the  greater  part  of  the 
area;  (2)  alluvial  soils,  the  flood-built  lands  of  the  larger  valleys,  chiefly 
in  Illinois  Valley;  (3)  the  soils  of  the  slopes  between  upland  and  lowland, 
which  consist  chiefly  of  glacial  material  modified  by  soil  creep  and  slope 
wash.  Acre  for  acre  the  glacial  soils  of  the  prairie  are  the  most  valuable 
and  are  also  most  uniform.  Differences  in  value  of  land  in  different  parts 
of  the  prairie  are  due  chiefly  to  differences  in  improvements  and  in 
distances  from  markets.  The  soils  of  the  third  class  are  least  desirable,  in 
part  because  least  humus  has  accumulated  in  them,  and  in  part  because 
of  the  drawbacks  of  their  steep  and  easily  washed  surfaces.  The  alluvial 
lands  are -less  valuable  than  the  prairie  soils,  because  they  are  subject  to 
floods,  because  they  are  so  porous  in  many  places  as  to  "burn  out"  in 
times  of  drought,  and  because  they  are  in  part  not  very  rich  in  plant  food. 
Neither  of  the  latter  classes  are  to  be  compared  in  area  or  richness  with 
the  soils  of  the  prairies.  The  crops  of  the  prairie  land  are  matched  by 
few  other  sections  of  our  country.  To  say  that  land  yields  as  well  as  the 
prairies  of  northern  Illinois  is  to  say  that  the  land  is  of  unexcelled  fertility. 
And  these  prairies  are  a  gift  of  glaciation.1 


2The  prairie  soils  of  La  Salle  and  Grundy  counties  were  valued  in  1910  at  from  $125  to  $200 
per  acre,  depending  on  nearness  to  market,  without  considering  the  speculative  values  at  which 
certain  lands  Dear  the  cities  are  held.  In  the  Morris  basin  the  prairie  ,ands  averaged  about  $175 
an  acre,  and  about  Grand  Ridge  an  average  value  of  $200  was  claimed.  The  sandy  soils  of  the 
valley  train  in  the  Morns  basin  at  the  same  time  were  held  at  from  $50  to  $75  per  acre.  Since 
that  time  there  has  been  an  average  annual  increase  in  value  of  10  per  cent,  little  prairie  land 
being  on  the  market  in  1915  at  $200,  with  prices  of  $250  not  uncommon. 


86  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 


SHALLOW  WATER  SUPPLIES 


Glaciation  has  lessened  greatly  the  difficulties  of  securing  a  supply  of 
water.  Almost  every  high  bank  along  a  stream  course  shows  one  or  more 
beds  of  sand  and  gravel.  Wherever  these  beds  lie  below  the  level  of 
ground  water,  they  collect  water  in  quantity.  Wells  less  than  20  feet  deep 
are  abundant  on  the  prairie.  The  ease  with  which  good  water  may  be 
secured  was  a  great  boon  to  the  prairie  farmer.  The  discovery  that  the 
apparently  waterless  prairies  held  an  easily  accessible  water  supply  was 
one  of  the  greatest  aids  in  their  settlement.  But  the  amount  of  water  which 
these  beds  of  glacial  outwash  furnish  is  limited.  With  the  recent  develop- 
ment of  stock  raising,  the  reservoirs  of  the  glacial  gravel  patches  have 
become  insufficient,  and  the  dug  well  is  being  supplanted  by  drilled  wells 
which  penetrate  the  underlying  rocks  with  their  more  copious  and  constant 
supply. 

SAND,  GRAVEL,  AND  CLAY 

The  glacial  sands  and  gravels  have  been  utilized  rather  extensively. 
Thin  beds  of  gravel  are  distributed  widely  over  the  prairie  surface  so  that 
generally  the  farmer  can  satisfy  his  needs  from  some  nearby  sand  or  gravel 
pit.  Gravel  and  sand  are  commonly  found  together  in  the  same  pit.  The 
most  important  deposits  of  sand  and  gravel,  and  those  which  have  been 
most  exploited  commercially,  are  limited  to  Illinois  Valley,  especially  to 
its  western  portion  and  to  some  of  its  western  tributaries.  The  gravels 
and  sands  of  the  central  and  eastern  region  have  a  sharper  grit,  but  at  the 
same  time  also,  lie  in  shallower  deposits.  In  La  Salle  County  the  grave] 
and  sand  have  excellent  grit  which  makes  tnem  almost  as  desirable  for 
construction  purposes  as  crushed  stone.  Westward  the  materials  are  more 
waterworn;  the  gravel  and  sand  about  Hennepin  are  quite  well  rounded, 
and  are  therefore  not  so  valuable.  It  is  in  the  latter  area,  however,  that 
they  have  been  exploited  most  extensively,  because  of  the  tremendous 
quantity  in  which  they  occur,  and  the  ease  with  which  they  may  be  loaded 
on  cars.  All  the  valley  towns  have  abundant  supplies  of  sand  and  gravel 
near  at  hand.  The  needs  of  the  larger  cities  have  developed  extensive 
pits  on  Little  Vermilion  Kiver,  on  Spring  Creek,  and  at  various  points 
along  Illinois  Valley.  The  material  below  Depue  is  shipped  chiefly  as 
ballast  and  road  metal  for  the  railroads. 

In  places,  especially  on  Spring  Creek,  the  gravels  are  so  coarse  that 
they  may  not  be  used  effectively  even  by  screening.  Near  the  base  of  the 
gravel  lie  beds  of  cemented  gravels.  When  cemented  beds  occur  higher 
up  in  sections  of  gravel,  they  destroy  their  economic  value  because  they 
cannot  be  removed  except  at  excessive  cost. 

The  glacial  lake  clays  have  been  utilized  to  some  extent  for  brick  and 
tile.     At  present  their  largest  use  is  in  the  tile  works  at  Morris,  which 


ICE  AGE  87 

works  pink  lake  clays  (fig.  28)  in  the  manufacture  of  draintiles.  These 
clays  are  excellently  suited  to  this  purpose,  but  have  as  yet  been  only 
slightly  developed  because  of  the  abundance  of  the  superior  "Coal 
Measures"  clay  about  Ottawa  and  Utica. 

WATER  POWER 

Glacial  deposits  obliterated  most  of  the  pre-glacial  drainage  lines. 
Streams  therefore  had  to  begin  afresh  after  the  Ice  Age  in  cutting  their 
channels.  The  valleys  are  still  largely  youthful,  and  instead  of  holding 
well-adjusted,  gently  flowing  streams,  the  streams  are  swift  and  obstructed 
in  places  by  rock  ledges  that  form  rapids  or  falls  in  their  courses. 

Upper  Illinois  Valley  has  a  swift  stream  and  in  it  are  several  rapids, 
as  at  Marseilles  and  Starved  Rock.  The  lower  pre-glacial  Illinois  Valley 
has  a  gentle  gradient  throughout,  uninterrupted  by  rapids  (fig.  3).  The 
upper  valley  and  its  tributaries  are  a  legacy  of  the  Ice  Age.  The  two 
rapids  on  the  Illinois,  those  on  the  lower  Kankakee,  numerous  rapids  on 
the  Desplaines,  the  Fox,  the  two  Vermilion  rivers,  and  several  on  smaller 
tributaries,  all  are  expressions  of  the  youth  of  the  streams,  which  have 
not  yet  cut  their  channels  to  low  grade.  These  rapids  are  capable  of 
developing  a  very  considerable  water  power,  a  small  part  of  which  was 
used  in  the  beginnings  of  local  industry  to  drive  the  primitive  mills  of  the 
country.  Except  at  Marseilles,  this  water  power  today  is  suffered  to  go  to 
waste.  Unused  though  it  is,  it  furnishes  a  vast  and  permanent  resource 
for  the  future,  the  development  of  which  may  do  much  for  the  industrial 
development  of  the  region. 

Disadvantages  op  Glaciated  Area 

The  drawbacks  which  glaciation  has  fixed  upon  this  region  may  be 
enumerated  briefly,  because  they  are  not  of  the  same  order  of  importance 
as  the  advantages  which  it  has  conferred. 

IMPERFECT  DRAINAGE 

Because  glaciation  has  obliterated  the  old  valleys,  and  because  sufficient 
time  has  not  passed  for  the  extensive  development  of  new  ones,  a  large  part 
of  the  prairie  surface  is  imperfectly  drained.  Also  the  soil  is  somewhat 
impervious.  On  much  of  the  prairie,  agriculture  can  be  carried  on 
successfully  only  by  tiling,  and  most  of  the  prairie  land  has  been  tiled. 
In  many  cases,  effective  tiling  of  the  heavy  clay  soil  requires  a  close  placing 
of  the  tiles  at  a  cost  ranging  from  $10  to  $50  per  acre.  Tiling  has  been 
used  for  two  purposes:  (1)  to  make  marshy  land  arable,  and  (2)  to  give 
to  the  prairie  surface  in  general,  likely  to  be  "soured"  and  "soggy,"  better 
drainage,  and  hence  greater  productivity. 


88  UPPER  ILLINOIS   VALLEY 


POOR  PRAIRIE  ROADS 


In  rainy  seasons  the  prairie  roads  are  heavy  and  almost  impassable  in 
their  unimproved  condition.  Locally,  the  abundance  of  gravel  and  of  rock 
suitable  for  road  metal  has  enabled  the  farmer  to  improve  his  roads  with 
comparative  ease.  At  greater  distances  from  the  large  valleys,  the 
maintenance  of  roads  becomes  a  problem  of  some  difficulty. 

SLOW  DEVELOPMENT  OF  MINERAL  RESOURCES 

The  general  presence  of  a  drift  cover  of  considerable  thickness  over 
the  bed  rock  has  retarded  the  development  of  the  mineral  resources  of 
the  region.  Along  the  valleys  of  the  larger  streams  the  drift  is  thin  and 
has  not  interfered  seriously  with  the  development  of  mining.  Away  from 
the  rock  exposures  along  the  streams,  especially  in  the  western  part  of  the 
area  where  the  surface  of  the  bed  rock  is  low,  mining  is  of  recent  origin. 
Even  now  the  Portland  cement  industry  of  the  Vermilion  district  is 
confined  closely  to  the  valley  bluffs  where  the  limestone  and  clay  lie  near 
the  surface,  largely  because  the  drift  thickens  rapidly  back  from  the  river 
and  its  stripping  becomes  prohibitively  expensive.  Coal  mining  was  begun 
in  the  valleys  but  has  recently  extended  to  the  prairie  by  drilling  through 
the  drift  and  upper  beds  of  rock.  The  towns  of  eastern  Bureau  County, 
Spring  Valley,  Ladd,  Seatonville,  and  Cherry,  are  all  mining  centers  which 
have  recently  sprung  up  on  the  prairie.  In  La  Salle  County,  Granville 
and  Cedar  Point  are  new  places  that  have  developed  about  prairie  coal 
mines. 


CHAPTER  V— GLACIAL  DRAINAGE  HISTORY  OF 
ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

Pre-Glacial  Components 

During  the  Ice  Age  Illinois  Valley  had  a  history  of  singular 
individuality,  which  merits  discussion  apart  from  the  regional  sketch  of 
glaciation. 

Although  the  present  valley  did  not  exist  bef  )re  the  glacial  period,  it 
has  been  developed  largely  from  pre-glacial  drainage  lines,  or  at  least  from 
drainage  lines  that  antedated  the  later  glaciations.  Prom  the  "  Great 
Bend"  to  its  mouth,  Illinois  River  inherited  a  great  pre-glacial  channel 
which  entered  the  present  Illinois  Valley  at  Depue.  This  old  valley  extended 
north  of  Depue,  but  its  northward  continuation  was  obliterated  by  thick 
deposits  of  drift,  and  its  existence  is  known  only  imperfectly  through  the 
records  of  well  drillings  (fig.  15).  Below  the  "Great  Bend,"  this  old  valley 
served  repeatedly  as  a  line  of  discharge  for  the  waters  issuing  from  various 
ice  sheets.2  The  ancient  channel  was  partially  filled  with  sediments  that 
were  washed  out  from  the  ice  front  in  several  of  the  glacial  epochs.  Much 
of  the  material  thus  deposited  still  remains  in  the  old  valley,  so  that  the 
modern  Illinois  River  flows  on  thick  deposits  of  stratified  drift  about  100 
feet  above  the  bottom  of  the  older  valley.  This  pre-glacial  valley  below 
Depue  seems  too  large  for  the  stream  which  now  flows  in  it  and  is  in 
striking  contrast  with  the  younger  valley  of  the  upper  Illinois. 

Above  Depue,  the  river  appears  to  have  appropriated  parts  of  two 
pre-glacial  valleys.  From  Utica  to  Depue  the  present  valley  rests  upon 
rather  thick  deposits  of  stratified  drift,  and  this  part  of  the  valley  is 
believed  to  have  been  formed  by  a  pre-glacial  tributary  to  the  main  valley 
farther  west  (fig.  15).  Above  Seneca  the  low-lying  surface  of  the  Morris 
basin  indicates  another,  pre-glacial  channel  whose  course  the  Illinois  has 
occupied. 

Existence  of  the  Upper  Valley  during  Wisconsin  Epoch 
The  upper  valley  of  the  Illinois  was  in  existence  in  the  later  stages  of 
glaciation.  There  is  varied  evidence  that  the  valley  is  only  to  a  slight  ex- 
tent the  work  of  the  recent  Outlet  River  which  drained  glacial  Lake  Michi- 
gan, and  that  it  was  practically  at  its  present  depth  in  the  Wisconsin  glacial 
epoch.    The  evidence  may  be  grouped  under  the  following  heads: 

Narrows,   H.   H.,    The   Middle  Illinois  Valley,    Bulletin    15,    Illinois    State   Geol.    Survey. 

(   89  ) 


90 


UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 


TILL  ON  VALLEY  FLOOR  ABOVE  OTTAWA 

The  accompanying  illustrations  (figs.  29  and  30)  are  from  the  Pioneer 
clay  pits  a  half  mile  above  East  Ottawa,  located  in  the  valley  between  the 
canal  bridge  and  Illinois  River.  The  base  of  these  sections  is 
less  than  30  feet  above  the  present  river  level.  The  valley  at  this 
point  is  more  than  150  feet  deep,  so  that  these  pits  lie  120  feet  or  more 
below  the  top  of  the  valley.  The  sections  show  exposures  of  till  several 
hundred  yards  in  extent.  The  till  rests  upon  "Coal  Measures"  clays  and 
coal  and  is  from  6  to  8  feet  thick.  Its  characteristics  are  unmistakable: 
(1)   a  fresh  clay  matrix,  set  with  bowlders,    (2)  many  striated,  subangular 


Fig.  29. — Coal  bed  buckled  by  the  ice. 


stones,  (3)  "Coal  Measures"  clays  which  have  been  plowed  up  and 
greatly  disturbed  by  the  ice,  and  into  which  was  mixed  glacial  ma- 
terial, and  all  this  buried  by  distinct  till.  Figure  29  shows  till  resting 
upon  a  seam  of  coal,  and  at  one  place  a  small  anticline  formed  by  the  push 
of  the  ice  against  the  coal  bed.  The  fold  lies  normal  to  the  direction  of 
the  valley  and  shows  that  the  ice  at  this  point  was  moving  in  a  direction 
parallel  to  that  of  the  present  valley.  The  manner  in  which  the  shales  were 
plowed  up  by  the  ice  was  discussed  in  Chapter  IV.  Figure  30  shows: 
A,  till ;  B,  small  patches  of  an  old  soil,  fragments  of  gravel  beds  which  may 
have  come  from  the  river  bed,  and  much  ' '  Coal  Measures ' '  clay  disrupted 
and  mixed  in  among  the  body  of  the  till ;  C,  crumpled  ' '  Coal  Measures ' ' 


GLACIAL  DRAINAGE  HISTORY 


91 


day,  and  bits  of  till  and  isolated  bowlders  that  were  pushed  into  this  clay 
by  the  ice;  and  D,  "Coal  Measures"  undisturbed  at  the  base.  The  entire 
section  shows  a  typical  contact  of  till  with  a  soft  underlying  formation  of 
bed  rock. 

The  till  found  in  the  valley  at  this  point  cannot  be  younger  than  the 
Marseilles  till  sheet,  which  is  the  youngest  drift  in  this  immediate  region. 
Its  occurrence  120  feet  below  the  top  of  a  valley  which  was  cut  in  solid  bed 


Fig.  30. — Exposure  of  till  near  bottom  of  Illinois  Valley  above  Ottawa  at  the 
Pioneer  clay  pits:  A,  normal  till;  B,  till  and  disrupted  "Coal  Measures;"  C,  dis- 
turbed ' '  Coal  Measures ' '  clays ;  D,  undisturbed  ' '  Coal  Measures. ' ; 

rock  indicates  an  excavation  of  the  valley  to  at  least  four-fifths  of  its  present 
depth  in  the  Marseilles  stage  of  the  Wisconsin  glacial  epoch,  if  not  at 
an  earlier  time. 


GLACIAL  GROOVING  ON  VALLEY  FLOOR  BELOW  OTTAWA 

Figures  31  and  32  show  the  surface  of  the  St.  Peter  sandstone  in 
Illinois  Valley,  as  uncovered  a  mile  and  a  half  west  of  Ottawa,  at  the 
plant  of  the  Federal  Plate  Glass  Company.  About  one  acre  has  been 
stripped  of  its  cover  of  soil  and  sand  at  this  place,  and  the  surface  of  the 


92 


UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 


Fig.  31. — Waterworn  surface  of  St.  Peter  sandstone  which  has  heen  smoothed  and 
grooved  by  the  ice.  This  view  was  taken  on  the  property  of  the  Federal  Plate  Glass 
Company  west  of  Ottawa  on  the  valley  floor  of  the  Illinois. 


Fig.  32 — Glacially  grooved  rock  surface  in  Illinois  Valley  at  site  of  Federal  Plate 
Glass  Company  west  of  Ottawa. 


GLACIAL  DRAINAGE  HISTORY 


93 


rock  shows  a  remarkable  number  of  typieal  glacial  groovings.  These  vary 
from  mere  scratches  to  channels  more  than  5  feet  deep.  Those  that  show 
glacial  characteristics  most  plainly  are  a  foot  or  less  in  depth.  (1)  The 
larger  grooves  are  in  general  parallel  to  each  other  but  are  not  perfectly 
straight.  Some  of  them,  especially  the  deeper  ones,  wind  considerably. 
Their  general  direction  is  someAvhat  north  of  east  by  south  of  west,  and 
corresponds  to  the  general  direction  of  the  valley.  (2)  The  smaller  grooves 
show  a  sharply  V-shaped  cross-section.  Water  wears  rounded,  U-shaped 
depressions;    these  were  chiseled   out  by  the  action   of   ice.     Figure   33 


Fig.  33. — Typical  groove  in  St.  Peter  sandstone  probably  made  by  water,'  but  the 
present  form  is  due  to  glacial  action. 


shows  such  a  groove  from  above.  The  larger  grooves  do  not  show  this 
characteristic  so  well,  but  are  often  merely  well-smoothed  channels 
Because  of  their  broader  floors,  they  resemble  more  closely  the  ordinary 
water-worn  depression.  This  type  is  illustrated  in  figure  31.  (3)  The 
sides  of  the  grooves  are  very  smooth  and  regular.  There  is  none  of  the 
irregularity  of  surface  developed  by  the  wear  of  water  due  to  differing 
resistances  of  different  parts  of  the  rock,  an  invariable  characteristic  of 
water-worn  surfaces  of  the  St.  Peter  sandstone.  (4)  Unlike  waterworn 
depressions,  these  grooves  do  not  slope  downstream  continuously.  Nor  do 
the  smaller  grooves  show  any  tendency  to  converge  to  the  larger  ones,  as 
do  water-made  channels.     Small  grooves  may  be  seen  in  places  upon  the 


94  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

sides  of  larger  ones,  parallel  with  them,  and,  in  one  case,  even  upon  the 
crest  of  one  of  the  knobs  (fig.  31). 

The  winding  course  and  flat  bottom  of  the  larger  grooves  suggest 
water-made  channels,  which  the  ice  remodeled  by  smoothing  their  sides 
and  deepening  their  floors.  Many  of  the  smaller  grooves  were  cut  out 
entirely  by  the  tools  which  the  ice  carried.  They  are  identical  with  glacial 
markings  found  in  other  places  upon  the  St.  Peter  sandstone.  The  elevation 
of  the  rock  at  this  place  is  less  than  40  feet  above  the  river  level.  The 
conclusion  is  that  ice  not  later  than  the  Wisconsin  grooved  the  rock  in  the 
bottom  of  the  valley  when  it  was  almost  as  low  as  at  present. 

PERU  BEDS 

West  of  Peru  is  a  type  of  stratified  drift  along  the  sides  of  the  valley 
unlike  that  common  at  the  surface  elsewhere.  It  is  shown  particularly 
well  along  the  south  side  of  the  valley  between  Peru  and  Spring  Valley, 
on  all  of  the  lower  tributaries  west  of  Cedar  Creek  and  probably  also 
north  of  the  valley  on  lower  Spring  Creek.  Its  distinctive  features  are 
(1)  its  position  beneath  the  Bloomington  till ;  (2)  its  restriction  to  a  narrow 
zone  marginal  to  the  valley;  (3)  the  weathered  condition  of  its  constituents, 
many  of  the  bowlders  being  much  decayed,  the  beds  as  a  whole  being 
strikingly  yellow  due  to  oxidation;  (4)  a  texture  distinctly  finer  than  that 
of  the  younger  stratified  drift  which  overlies  the  Peru  beds  in  many  places ; 
sand  is  very  prominent  and  silt  almost  as  common;  (5)  greater  regularity 
of  bedding  than  in  the  younger  surface  gravels;  (6)  occurrence  at  lower 
levels  than  the  latter;  (7)  the  presence  of  fossils,  particularly  snail  shells, 
in  loess.  The  buried  plant  beds  of  lower  Spring  Creek  are  to  be  correlated 
with  this  series  in  all  probability. 

General  sections  typical  of  the  Peru  beds  are  given  below : 
First  ravine  west  of  Cedar  Creek,  west  side  of  ravine,  one-quarter  mile 
above  crossing  of  road,  at  base  of  river  bluffs: 

Thickness 
Feet 

5.     Fresh  high-level  gravel 5-15 

4.  Rotted  gravels,  coarse  and  fine;  sharply 
separated  from  5  by  a  line  of  rust  which 
marks  the  oxidized  surface  of  the   older 

bed \     Peru      /   30-40 

3.     Loess,  surface  irregular,  thickness  regular..   (      becls        J         2 

2.     Fine  gravel  and  sand ]  j        35 

1.     Clay-silt,  dark  blue,  to  base  of  section.... 

The  lowest  western  tributary  of  Cedar  Creek  intersects  the  Peru- 
Granville  road  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  south  of  the  river  bluffs.     Here 


GLACIAL  DRAINAGE  HISTORY  95 

these  yellow  sands  have  been  exposed  in  a  large  sand  pit.    In  a  number  of 
its  branches  this  ravine  shows  the  following  relations : 

4.     Generally  at  the  surface,  fresh  subangular  gravels. 

3.     Fresh,  rather  compact,  stony,  pink  till  belonging  to  the  Bloom- 

ington  till   sheet. 
2.     Peru    beds;    generally    sand,    typically    oxidized,    and    rotted; 

water-worn  coal,  the  only  material  coarser  than  sand  found 

in  these  beds   (lighter  than  other  rock). 
1.     Pie-Wisconsin   blue   till;    weathered,   deeply   cracked    and    the 

cracks  filled  with  sand  from  above. 

West  of  Cedar  Creek  the  Peru  beds  show  an  increasing  preponderance 
of  silt  and  clay.  In  a  ravine  a  mile  west  of  Cedar  Creek,  clay  is  underlain 
by  a  curious  conglomeratic  shale.  The  shale  has  been  former  by  the 
cementation  of  silt,  in  which  are  imbedded  bits  of  gravel  and  fragmentary 
clam  shells.  The  clay  for  40  feet  above  carries  beds  that  teem  with  snail 
shells  and  vegetable  remains.  No  till  is  here  exposed  above  the  silt.  A 
short  distance  up  the  ravine,  however,  silt  of  identical  characteristics, 
except  for  the  absence  of  fossils,  underlies  the  Bloom ington  till.  This  silt 
is  of  a  peculiar  drab-blue  color,  has  a  very  uniform  texture,  is  quite 
calcareous,  grades  upward  into  brownish-yellow  sands,  and  is  closely 
confined  to  a  narrow  strip  along  the  river.  This  phase  appears  to  be  the 
western  continuation  of  the  Peru  beds. 

On  lower  Spring  Creek  this  blue-gray  silt  forms  the  bed  of  the  creek 
for  a  considerable  distance,  and  half  a  mile  below  Dalzell  it  is  exposed  on 
the  right  bank  of  the  creek  beneath  30  feet  of  till.  The  basal  part  of  this 
section  is  shown  in  figure  24.  A,  blue-gray  silt ;  B,  loess ;  C,  till.  The 
number  of  shells  in  the  silt  beds  on  lower  Spring  Creek  is  marvellous.  In 
it  are  also  beds  composed  very  largely  of  vegetable  tissue,  well  preserved 
in  many  places. 

The  Peru  beds  underlie  the  Bloomington  till,  which  is  the  oldest  till 
of  the  Wisconsin  epoch,  and  by  the  manner  of  their  distribution  suggest 
the  existence  of  a  pre- Wisconsin  drainage  line  along  Illinois  Valley  below 
Peru.  They  have  been  found  to  within  50  feet  of  the  bottom  of  the  present 
valley  and  appear  to  agree  roughly  in  distribution  with  the  course  of  Illi- 
nois Valley.  The  weathered  surface  of  the  beds  points  to  their  deposition 
long  before  the  coming  of  the  Wisconsin  ice. 

GRAVELS  AT  BUFFALO  ROCK 

Buffalo  Rock  is  separated  from  the  northern  bluff  of  the  valley  by  an 
abandoned  channel  which  once  made  of  the  rock  an  island  in  Illinois 
River.  This  old  channel  is  now  followed  by  the  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal. 
The  present  river  is  able  to  carry  only  fine  sediment,  mostly  silt ;  yet  within 
this  old  channel  there  are  extensive  accumulations  of    sand    and    coarsp 


96 


UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 


gravel.  At  the  eastern  end  of  the  Rock,  a  gravel  pit  exposes  a  dozen  feet 
of  very  coarse  gravel.  Just  north  of  its  western  extremity,  about  40 
feet  above  the  present  river  level,  a  well  was  sunk  through  44  feet  of 
gravel  and  sand.  These  materials  are  exposed  also  at  the  west  end  of 
Buffalo  Rock  in  the  large  gravel  pit  of  the  interurban  railroad.  The 
material  is  typical  of  very  vigorous  drainage,  containing  many  ill-worn 
stones  more  than  6  inches  in  diameter.  The  last  two  epochs  during  which 
waters  having  a  velocity  sufficient  to  carry  such  stones  flowed  down  the 
valley  were  the  Marseilles  stage  and  the  end  of  the  Ice  Age,  when  Outlet 
River  drained  glacial  Lake  Michigan  through  this  valley.  But  Outlet 
River  flowed  from  a  clear  body  of  water,  and  hence  was  not  laden  heavily 
at  the  outset  with  sediment.  From  the  known  conditions  of  the  Late 
Wisconsin  valley  train  above  this  place,  it  can  be  concluded  that  this  river 
did  not  excavate  a  great  deal  of  glacial  drift  above  here.  It  is  not  known 
to  have  left  any  appreciable  deposits,  but  it  is  not  impossible  that  beds  of 


Fig.  34. — Beconstruction  of  the  buried  channel  of  river  in  the  Morris  basin. 

gravel  and  sand  40  to  50  feet  thick  would  have  been  deposited  by  a  stream 
which  eroded  as  actively  as  did  this  river.  The  likelier  view  is  that  these 
gravels  came  from  the  ice  while  its  edge  stood  at  the  nearby  Marseilles 
moraine,  from  which  water  is  known  to  have  carried  away  much  coarse 
material.  The  channel  in  which  the  gravels  lie  is  almost  as  low  as  the 
present  river  level.  If  these  beds  may  be  referred  to  the  Marseilles  stage, 
they  indicate  a  minimum  age  for  Illinois  Valley  similar  to  that  suggested 
by  the  till  in  the  valley  above  Ottawa  and  by  the  grooves  between  Ottawa 
and  Buffalo  Rock. 


BURIED  CHANNEL  OF  THE  ILLINOIS  IN  THE  MORRIS  BASIN 

In  the  Morris  basin  a  similar  condition  exists.  Below  the  bridge  on 
the  ox-bow  of  lower  Mazon  Creek,  the  rock  walls  of  that  valley  give  place 
abruptly  to  gentle  slopes  of  loose  stratified  drift.  A  section  of  30  feet  of 
this  stratified  material  is  here  shown  resting  against  the  steep  rock  wall 


GLACIAL  DRAINAGE   HISTORY  97 

of  an  older  channel.  This  contact  marks  the  place  where  the  Mazon  has 
cut  through  the  old  southern  slope  of  the  main  valley  of  the  Illinois  and 
Laid  bare  an  aggraded  glacial  channel.  The  base  of  this  section  extends 
to  within  10  feet  of  the  present  river  level  (fig.  34).  At  a  point  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  farther  east  a  well  records  a  section  of  72  feet  of  sand  and  fine 
gravel.  This  would  indicate  a  buried  channel  20  feet  lower  than  the  present 
level  of  the  river.  For  several  miles  to  the  west  wells  have  been  sunk  to 
river  level  through  50  feet  of  clear  sand.  North  of  the  river,  the  presence 
of  a  buried  channel  is  shown  by  a  well  record  from  sec.  35,  T.  34  N.,  R.  7.  E. 


Fig.  35. — Waterlaid  sediments  of  glacial  age  along  Illinois  Valley  between  Marseilles 
and  Seneca.     These  beds  consist  mostly  of  sand  and  fine  gravels  overlain  by  till. 

(Saratoga).  The  top  of  the  well  has  an  elevation  of  520  feet.  The  well 
is  50  feet  deep  and  passes  through  sand  and  gravel  only.  The  bottom  of 
the  wrell  is  at  river  level.  Other  sections  on  both  sides  of  the  river  limit 
these  sediments  to  a  zone  which  follows  the  valley  closely.  Their  age  is 
Late  Wisconsin,  and  consequently  the  old  river  channel  through  the  Morris 
basin  dates  from  some  earlier  period. 

KICKAPOO  BEDS 

On  the  sides  of  Illinois  Valley  between  Marseilles  and  Seneca,  are 
some  of  the  largest  gravel  pits  of  the  region;  some  of  them  may  be  seen 
about  halfway  between  the  two  places  along  the    Rock    Island    Railroad 


98  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

(fig.  35).  These  pits  belong  to  a  series  of  stratified  beds  which  are  best 
developed  north  of  the  river,  particularly  about  the  mouth  of  North 
Kickapoo  Creek.     The  most  significant  points  about  them  are: 

1.  Distribution. — They  are  confined  closely  to  the  valley.  Deep 
ravines  that  extend  back  from  the  river  on  either  side,  show  that  these 
beds  extend  but  a  few  hundred  yards  back  from  the  main  valley. 

2.  Position  beneath  till. — In  the  pits  along  North  Kickapoo  Creek,  the 
gravels  are  overlain  by  10  to  15  feet  of  Marseilles  till.  The  stratified  drift 
similarly  is  underlain  by  an  older  purplish  till,  probably  of  Bloomington 
age. 

3.  Constitution  of  the  beds. — In  the  various  sections  exposed 
practically  every  grade  of  sediment  is  shown,  from  fine  silt  to  coarse  gravel. 
The  large  gravel  pits  show  mostly  moderately  coarse  gravel  and  sand. 
Away  from  the  river  the  material  becomes  finer.  West  of  the  large  pits 
several  gullies  show  a  gradation  of  the  material  from  sand  to  a  fine  silt 
that  might  pass  for  loess  but  for  the  occasional  presence  of  small  bowlders. 
The  gravel  is  very  fresh,  shows  glacial  markings  in  many  places,  and  was 
evidently  buried  by  ice  shortly  after  its  deposition. 

4.  Vertical  distribution. — In  the  largest  pit  a  section  of  about  70  feet 
of  stratified  material  is  exposed.  This  pit  extends  to  within  40  feet  of  the 
river  level.  Half  a  mile  west  of  Seneca,  south  of  the  river,  bed  rock  has 
been  reached  in  a  similar  pit  only  20  feet  above  river  level. 

The  Kickapoo  beds  were  deposited  by  a  glacial  ancestor  of  Illinois 
River  during  a  period  when  the  vigorous  stream  was  supplied  with 
abundant  material  from  the  melting  ice  front.  On  the  margins  of  the 
stream,  in  shallow  water,  or  in  the  slack  water  of  side  streams,  beds  of  silt 
were  laid  down.  The  Kickapoo  beds  are  another  indication  of  the  Wis- 
consin age  of  the  upper  Illinois,  based  on  criteria  similar  to  those  discussed 
in  the  preceding  cases. 

OTHER  EVIDENCES 

The  Valparaisio  valley  train  extending  down  Illinois  Valley  records 
its  existence  at  the  time  of  the  Valparaiso  ice  sheet.  The  gravel  filling  of 
Clark's  Run  at  Utica  gives  similar  evidence  of  an  earlier  date,  as  do  the 
high-level  gravels  paralleling  the  stream  below  the  Marseilles  moraine. 
All  these  deposits  are  described  in  the  latter  part  of  this  chapter. 

SUMMARY 

The  evidence  concerning  the  age  of  Illinois  Valley  is  distributed  from 
one  end  of  the  upper  valley  to  the  other.  The  first  locality  is  in  the  Morris 
basin,  others  lie  between  Seneca  and  Marseilles,  another  above  the 
confluence  of  the  Fox  and  the  Illinois,  again  below  Ottawa,  at  Buffalo 
Rock,  and  finally  between  Peru  and  Spring  Valley.     The  records  do  not 


GLACIAL  DRAINAGE  HISTORY  99 

all  date  back  equally  far.  That  at  Peru  is  probably  the  oldest,  but  this 
pari  of  the  river's  course  has  commonly  been  thought  to  be  pre-glaeial,  or 
at  least  early  glacial.  The  grooves  below  Ottawa  are  apparently  of  pre- 
Marseilles  age,  similarly  the  till  on  the  valley  flat  above  Ottawa,  and  the 
Kickapoo  beds.  That  at  Morris  is  the  youngest  record.  The  cumulative 
evidence  points  to  a  valley  but  slightly  shallower  than  it  is  at  present,  when 
the  Wisconsin  ice  sheets  were  in  the  region.  With  Illinois  Valley  almost  at 
its  present  depth  in  Wisconsin  time,  the  erosion  of  the  major  part  of  the 
valley  falls  into  the  earlier  part  of  the  Ice  Age. 

Early  Wisconsin  Period 

Probably  after  Illinois  Valley  had  grown  almost  to  its  present  size,  it 
was  overridden  by  the  ice  sheets  of  the  Wisconsin  glacial  epoch.  That  part 
of  the  valley  which  was  covered  by  the  ice  was  modified  both  by  glacial 
erosion  and  deposition,  while  the  valley  beyond  the  ice  front  served  as  a 
drain  for  the  glacial  water,  and  deposits  made  by  them  aggraded  its 
bottom. 

filling  of  valley  below  marseilles 

(high-level  gravels) 

The  extent  to  which  glacial  gravels  and  sands  are  associated  with  the 
upper  Illinois  Valley  indicates  the  importance  of  this  drainage  line  during 
the  Ice  Age.  As  the  ice  advanced  and  retreated  with  its  front  more  or 
less  normal  to  the  valley,  it  follows  that  unless  completely  aggraded  this 
valley  served  as  an  important  line  of  discharge  for  the  waters  issuing  from 
the  ice.  The  high-level  gravels  along  the  margin  of  the  Illinois  have 
recorded  a  part  of  this  drainage  history.  Especially  during  the  Marseilles 
stage  waters  issuing  in  great  quantity  from  the  ice  front  flowed  down  the 
valley.  The  size  of  the  Marseilles  moraine  indicates  a  very  considerable 
halt  of  the  ice  front,  and  the  discharge  of  an  immense  quantity  of  sediment- 
laden  water.  In  this  valley,  waters  from  the  Marseilles  ice  front  were 
probably  the  largest  single  factor  in  forming  the  most  extensive  beds  of 
stratified  material  in  the  upper  valley.  Deposition  seems  to  have  continued 
until  the  glacial  valley  was  almost  obliterated,  and  the  glacial  stream  flowed 
in  a  broad  shallow  trough,  almost  at  the  level  of  the  prairie.  This  stratified 
deposit  has  been  greatly  dissected  by  subsequent  erosion  and  no  longer 
forms  a  continuous  bed.  But  even  before  the  ice  front  had  receded  to  the 
Marseilles  position,  glacial  waters  flowed  down  the  western  portion  of  the 
upper  valley  and  also  down  the  tributaries  and  caused  the  deposition  of  a 
part  of  the  surface  gravels  now  found  at  high  levels  along  the  valleys. 
Eemnants,  however,  are  sufficiently  numerous  that  their  correlation  may 


100 


UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 


be  attempted.     A  typical  section  of  these  gravels  is  shown  in  figure  36. 
These  gravels  were  deposited  in  several  situations : 


Fig.  36. 
Valley. 


-Gravel  pit  in  ' '  high-level ' '  gravels  south  of  Illinois  River  opposite  Spring 


1.  Gravels  marginal  to  the  ice  front. — North  of  the  Illinois,  Fox  River 
is  marginal  to  the  Marseilles  moraine.  The  valley  of  the  Fox  has  little 
stratified  drift.  The  drift  in  this  section  is  distributed  as  largely  over  the 
prairie  between  Ottawa  and  Dayton  as  within  the  valley  proper.  The 
gravels  are  high  above  the  valley  bottom  and  indicate  that  the  valley  in 
which  they  were  deposited  was  much  shallower  than  the  present  valley, 
which  has  been  cut  chiefly  since  the  Marseilles  stage.  In  the  recent  cutting 
of  Fox  Valley,  most  of  the  stratified  drift  left  by  waters  from  the  Marseilles 
ice  front  was  destroyed. 

Along  the  western  base  of  the  Marseilles  moraine  and  south  of  the 
Illinois,  gravel  is  common  at  least  as  far  south  as  the  headwaters  of  Covel 
Creek.  The  beds  were  here  laid  down  upon  the  flat  prairie,  and  average  from 
2  to  10  feet  thick.  In  the  valley  of  Covel  Creek  are  only  a  few  shallow  beds 
of  sand  and  gravel.  It  appears  that  this  valley  also  was  developed 
subsequently  to  the  deposition  of  the  outwash  from  the  Marseilles  moraine. 
On  both  sides  of  the  river  the  gravels  lap  up  only  for  a  short  distance  on 
the  western  front  of  the  moraine.  The  quantity  of  outwash  flanking  the 
moraine  is  not  great,  due  probably  to  the  lack  of  adequate  drainage  lines 
parallel  to  its  front,  and  the  water  spread  in  a  broad  sheet  over  the  flat 
prairie. 


GLACIAL  DRAINAGE  HISTORY  101 

2.  Gravels  along  Illinois  Valley. — In  spite  of  its  partial  filling,  Illinois 
Valley  furnished  probably  at  various  times  in  the  latter  part  of  the  Ice  Age 
a  great  drainage  line  from  the  ice  front,  and  down  it  were  discharged 
chiefly  the  glacial  waters  with  their  great  loads  of  sediment.  As  the  bottom 
of  the  valley  widened,  and  its  grade  lessened  downstream,  the  velocity  of 
the  water  was  reduced,  and  the  deposition  of  large  quantities  of  sand  and 
gravel  resulted.  These  beds  now  constitute  the  "high-level"  gravels  mar- 
ginal to  the  Illinois.  Their  chief  characteristics  are  as  follows:  (1)  They 
may  be  traced  down  the  valley  at  least  as  far  as  the  Hennepin  flat.  Their 
upper,  limit  is  the  western  front  of  the  Marseilles  moraine.  This  distri- 
bution points  to  the  Marseilles  moraine  as  at  least  their  partial  source.  (2) 
The  beds  consist  almost  entirely  of  gravel,  much  of  which  is  too  coarse  to 
be  used  for  ordinary  purposes.  Silt  is  almost  entirely  lacking,  and  the 
sand  is  coarse.  The  size  of  the  materials  indicates  a  stream  with  the 
velocity  of  a  torrent.  (3)  A  striking  characteristic  is  the  grittiness  of  both 
sand  and  gravel.  The  drift  washed  out  from  the  ice  front  was  exposed  to 
the  action  of  water  only  long  enough  to  be  sorted  into  beds  of  different 
texture.  The  materials  show  but  slightly  the  effect  of  wear  by  water  and 
retain,  on  the  whole,  the  form  which  they  had  received  in  the  ice.  The 
stones  are  subangular  and  have  polished,  flattened,  and  even  striated  sides. 
The  sand  is  angular  and  of  plaster  grade.  (4)  The  surface  of  the  beds 
declines  gently  downstream.  From  the  front  of  the  moraine  above  Ottawa 
to  Hennepin  the  decline  is  not  more  than  20  feet.  The  altitude  of  their 
surface  at  Ottawa  is  somewhat  more  than  600  feet  above  tide,  and  at  Hen- 
nepin about  580  feet.  This  makes  a  surface  slope  of  less  than  8  inches  to 
the  mile.  The  position  of  the  tops  of  the  gravel  beds  approximately  at  the 
general  level  of  the  upland  indicates  that  filling  continued  until  the  valley 
was  virtually  obliterated.  The  gentle  slope  of  the  surface  of  the  beds  points 
to  their  nearby  origin.  (5)  The  floor  upon  which  they  rest  descends 
downstream  much  more  rapidly.  Above  Ottawa  the  base  of  the  gravel  has 
an  elevation  between  530  to  550  feet,  and  at  Spring  Valley  480  feet  or  less. 
The  amount  of  filling,  therefore,  increases  greatly  downstream.  At  Ottawa 
the  filling  amounts  to  about  50  feet ;  at  Spring  Valley  to  more  than  100  feet. 

The  most  prominent  deposits  of  these  gravels  are  distributed  as 
follows:  (1)  In  the  west  part  of  Rutland  Township,  and  south  of  the 
river  in  the  west  part  of  Fall  River  Township.  In  the  former  they 
constitute  a  small  flat  which  rises  more  than  100  feet  above  the  river.  In 
the  latter,  they  are  near  the  top  of  the  valley  side,  generally  not  less  than 
80  feet  above  the  river.  (2)  In  the  extreme  northwestern  corner  of  North 
Ottawa  Township  a  prominent,  isolated  gravel  knoll,  lying  between  the  Fox 
and  the  Illinois  rivers,  shows  good  sections  of  these  gravels.  (3)  In  South 
Ottawa  Township  they  underlie  the  northern  half  of  the  southern  ward. 
(4)  They  are  exposed  to  a  depth  of  50  feet  two  miles  below    the    Ottawa 


102 


UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 


bridge.     They  are  horizontally  bedded,  and  their  base  is  at  least  70  feet 
above  the  present  river  level. 

Figure  37  shows  the  top  of  a  pit  in  the  St.  Peter  sandstone,  a  mile 
and  a  half  east  of  Utica  opposite  Starved  Rock.  This  illustration  shows 
the  filling  of  an  old  stream  bed  160  feet  above  the  present  river  level,  almost 
up  to  the  level  of  the  riverward  margin  of  the  prairie.    The  section  shows : 

3.     Upland  clay,  4  feet. 

2.     Coarse,  well-bedded,  and  well-sorted  gravels. 
1.     Water-smoothed  surface  of  the  St.  Peter  sandstone,  containing 
irregular  channels  in  which  the  gravels  lie. 


Fig.  37. — Surface  of  valley  bluff  between  Ottawa  and  Utica.  The  elevation  is 
about  150  feet  above  the  present  river  level.  The  surface  of  the  rock  has  been  smoothed 
by  running  water. 


From  Utica  to  the  eastern  line  of  Utica  Township  are  a  series  of  gravel 
pits,  about  20  to  25  feet  deep,  distributed  along  the  valley  bluffs.  South  of 
the  river  above  Utica  gravel  beds  are  less  common,  but  there  is  one  on  the 
bluff  east  of  the  mouth  of  Horseshoe  Canyon. 

In  the  La  Salle  region  the  gravel  beds  are  on  both  sides  of  the  valley, 
their  surfaces  as  much  as  150  feet  above  river  level,  and  their  bottoms 
within  40  feet  of  the  river.  The  gravels  are  mostly  on  the  south  side  of 
the  valley.    Figure  36  shows  a  section  across  the  river  from  Spring  Valley. 


GLACIAL  DRAINAGE  HISTORY  103 

To  the  west,  they  merge  into  the  gravel  flat  at  Hennepin,  below  the  great 
bend. 

3.  Gravel  filling  of  tlie  lower  tributaries. — Practically  every  tributary 
of  the  Illinois  below  the  Marseilles  moraine,  and  particularly  below  Covel 
Creek,  shows  generous  gravel  filling  well  above  the  present  level  of  the 
streams. 

In  the  valley  of  Clark's  Run,  these  high-level  gravels  extend  upstream 
more  than  a  mile  from  the  Illinois  bluffs.  The  filling  of  this  tributary 
corresponds  to  the  filling  of  the  main  valley.  Clark's  Run  shows  that  at 
the  time  its  valley  was  filled,  it  had  at  least  two-thirds  of  its  present  depth, 
and  four-fifths  of  its  present  length.  Perhaps  the  comparison  of  the  lower 
mile  of  its  canyon  course,  cut  in  Wisconsin  time  or  earlier,  with  the  quarter 
mile  above  cut  since,  affords  a  rough  means  of  estimating  the  age  of  upper 
Illinois  Valley. 

The  road  north  from  Utica  crosses  a  small  gravel  flat,  almost  at  the 
top  of  the  valley  of  Clark's  Run.  This  flat  is  at  the  cemetery  and  lies  just 
below  the  level  of  the  prairie.  Upstream  sands  and  gravels  mantle  the  older 
valley  slopes  of  St.  Peter  sandstone,  as  shown  in  figure  38.  Here  is  a  bed 
of  sand  30  feet  thick,  which  extends  from  the  level  of  the  prairie  to  within 
25  feet  of  the  creek  bed.  These  gravels  lie  hard  against  a  sheer  rock  wall 
of  which  about  25  feet  have  been  exposed  in  a  ravine  west  of  the  creek. 
This  rock  wall  marks  the  head  of  the  canyon  at  the  time  it  was  filled. 
Below  this  point  the  nearly  vertical  walls  of  the  run  are  faced  by  glacial 
sands  and  gravel.  Above,  to  the  head  of  the  canyon,  the  walls  of  the  newly 
cut,  unfilled  canyon,  are  bare,  except  for  a  little  sand  which  has  slumped 
down  as  a  result  of  the  weathering  of  the  St.  Peter  sandstone. 

In  the  valleys  of  the  Vermilion  rivers  is  no  recognizable  limit  of  filling 
upstream.  On  the  Little  Vermilion,  gravel  beds  lie  near  the  top  of  the 
present  valley  as  far  up  as  the  limits  of  the  region  covered  by  this  report. 
In  its  lower  course,  the  Little  Vermilion  shows  gravel  filling  on  a  large 
scale,  chiefly  on  the  east  side  of  the  valley.  The  base  of  these  beds  is  about 
80  feet  above  the  present  valley  bottom.  They  are  about  30  feet  thick  and 
extend  upward  practically  to  the  level  of  the  upland,  or  almost  to  600  feet. 
In  the  limestone  gorge  of  the  stream,  gravel  beds  are  lacking  entirely ;  but 
farther  up,  beds  of  gravel  5  to  10  feet  thick  cap  the  slopes  of  the  valley  for 
miles.    These  latter,  however,  may  belong  to  a  different  series. 

The  gravels  are  developed  particularly  between  the  German- American 
Cement  Works  and  a  point  some  distance  above  Kinder 's  gravel  pit 
(opposite  Fifteenth  Street). 


104 


UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 


Thickness 
Feet 

5.     Clay  silt,  with  a  few  gravel  stones 5 

4.     Gravel,  fairly  coarse,  southward  (riverward)   dip 5 

3.     Sand,  mostly  cross  bedded,  in  places  gives  way  to  gravel       30 

2.     Ill-defined  material,  probably  waterworn 8-10 

1.     Limestone 70 


UTICA 


Fig.  38. — Sketch  map  showing  distribution  of  sands  and  gravels  in  valley  of  Clark's  Eun. 


This  section  shows  particularly:  (1)  deposition  in  a  shallow  valley; 
(2)  almost  complete  obliteration  of  this  valley  by  filling;  and  (3)  delta 
bedding,  probably  controlled  by  Illinois  River. 

The  Big  Vermilion  shows  similar  gravel  beds  rising  along  the  lower 
course  of  the  river  to  the  600-foot  contour  line  as  a  maximum  elevation, 
but  rising  upstream  to  higher  levels.  The  largest  beds  of  gravel  on  the 
lower  Big  Vermilion  are  at  Mertel  's,  about  two  miles  below  Lowell.  Other 
beds  are  on  the  east  side  of  the  river,  opposite  the  plant  of  the  Chicago 
Portland  Cement  mill. 


GLACIAL  DRAINAGE  HISTORY 


105 


The  filling  of  the  tributaries  reaches  its  greatest  development  below 
La  Salle.  These  high-level  gravels  abound  in  all  the  tributaries  between 
Peru  and  Spring  Valley  and  along  Negro  Creek,  but  are  found  in  greatest 
quantity  in  the  valleys  of  Cedar  and  Spring  creeks.  From  their  headwaters 
down  almost  to  their  mouths,  many  of  the  slopes  of  these  valleys  are  faced 
with  gravels  which  rise  from  an  upper  limit  of  580  feet  above  tide  near 
Illinois  Valley  to  more  than  620  feet  on  the  headwaters  of  the  creeks.  On 
lower  Spring  Creek  the  thickness  of  the  gravel  reaches  almost  100  feet; 
four  miles  upstream  at  Hegler,  the  thickness  is  less  than  20  feet.  Excellent 
sections,  typical  of  the  gravels  in  the  tributaries,  are  exposed  opposite 
Spring  Valley  on  the  east  side  of  the  creek,  particularly  near  the  Burlington 


Fig.  39. — Clay  balls  in  the  ' '  high-level ' '  gravels. 


station.  The  material  is  mostly  very  coarse.  Subangular  and  striated  stones 
are  almost  as  common  here  as  in  the  till.  Although  the  material  was  not 
handled  long  enough  by  the  streams  to  show  much  water  wear,  it  was 
sorted  thoroughly  and  is  well  bedded. 

An  interesting  feature  to  be  seen  in  the  gravel  of  most  of  the  tributaries 
consists  in  the  so-called  "clay  balls."  These  are  pieces  of  till  rounded  by 
being  rolled  by  water.  They  seem  to  have  formed  only  in  very  rapid  streams 
and  preserved  only  where  speedily  covered  by  other  deposits.  A  vigorous 
stream,  undercutting  a  frozen  till  bank,  would  be  especially  likely  to  shape 
these  fragments  of  till  into  rounded  balls,  and  then  to  bury  them  in  the 
drift  which  it  carried  down  its  course.  This  feature  is  illustrated  in 
figure  39  taken  from  the  first  ravine  west  of  Cedar  Creek,  near  the  head 
of  the  ravine. 


106  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

On  Spring  Creek  near  the  top  of  the  large  gravel  sections  across  from 
Spring  Valley,  is  a  peculiar  bed  of  silt  about  two  feet  thick.  This  bed  lies 
upon  coarse  gravel  and  under  a  thin  layer  of  sand  and  gravel.  It  reappears 
as  a  gray  band  near  the  top  of  almost  every  one  of  the  numerous  sections 
on  Spring  Creek,  similarly  on  Cedar  Creek,  and  on  both  of  the  Vermilion 
rivers.  In  all  these  places  its  character  is  the  same,  and  it  is  found  in  the 
same  relative  position  in  the  section,  within  5  to  10  feet  of  the  top  of  the 
gravel.  It  is  the  only  bed  of  silt  known  in  the  Marseilles  series.  It  thus 
forms  a  convenient  means  of  correlating  the  gravel  beds  along  the  lower 
tributaries.  The  silt  records  a  sudden  checking  of  the  current  of  the 
Illinois,  by  which  the  tributaries  were  correspondingly  ponded  and  were 
changed  from  violent  streams  which  had  busied  themselves  with  the  shifting 
of  gravels,  to  sluggish  waters  that  formed  a  layer  of  fine  mud  upon  their 
floors. 

The  various  tributaries  show  a  remarkable  uniformity  of  conditions 
of  their  marginal  high-level  gravels.  The  material  in  all  of  them  is  chiefly 
coarse,  ill-worn  gravel,  and  the  beds  have  a  continuous  surface  slope  that 
joins  the  surface  of  the  Marseilles  beds  of  the  main  valley.  The  position 
of  the  beds  is  also  similar  to  that  observed  in  the  main  valley.  They  are 
clearly  considerably  younger  than  the  drift  which  they  overlie.  As  the 
gravels  along  the  Illinois  extend  back  to  the  Marseilles  moraine,  and  as  these 
beds  along  the  tributaries  show  relationship  to  Illinois  Valley  in  their 
persistent  silt  bed,  the  delta  bedding,  continuity  of  slope,  and  general 
nature  and  position  of  the  gravels,  the  conclusion  is  that  they  were  formed 
in  large  part  at  the  same  period  and  in  similar  manner.  Their  flat  sur- 
faces, coarseness  and  unworn  condition  point  to  their  deposition  near  the 
ice  front  and  not  to  the  simultaneous  filling  of  the  valley  from  a  distant 
moraine.  The  most  likely  explanation  is  that  the  ice  receded  gradually 
from  its  earlier  position  near  Princeton,  and  filled  as  it  receded  the  adja- 
cent portion  of  the  Illinois  and  tributaries.  The  filling  of  the  upper  valley 
was  completed  during  the  building  of  the  Marseilles  moraine. 

The  later  scouring  out  of  the  main  valley  by  the  outlet  river  left  the 
tributaries  practically  untouched,  so  that  probably  a  better  record  of  the 
filling  of  the  valley  during  the  Marseilles  stage  is  found  in  the  gravel  beds 
of  the  tributaries  than  in  those  of  Illinois  River. 

A  side  light  on  the  age  of  Illinois  Valley  is  given  by  tills  tributary 
filling.  The  existence  of  practically  all  of  the  valleys  below  Ottawa  in 
pre-Marseilles  times,  and  of  some  of  them,  as  Clark's  Run,  Spring  Creek, 
and  Cedar  Creek,  with  almost  their  present  length  and  depth,  dwarfs  the 
amount  of  erosion  which  has  been  accomplished  since  and  suggests  that 
most  of  the  excavation  of  the  tributary  valleys,  as  well  as  of  the  Illinois, 
antedates  the  Marseilles  stage. 


GLACIAL  DRAINAGE  HISTORY  107 

HENNEPIN  FLAT  AND  SEDIMENTS  IN  VALLEY  OF  BUREAU  CREEK 

Lying  in  the  "Great  Bend"  of  the  Illinois,  centered  about  Hennepin, 
are  vast  deposits  of  sand  and  gravel,  forming  the  Hennepin  flat,  which 
lies  south  and  east  of  the  river.  It  is  two  miles  wide  in  places  and  six 
miles  in  length.  The  surface  of  the  flat  is  about  150  feet  above  the  river 
level.  About  Moronts  the  bottom  of  the  sand  and  gravel  is  at  least  40  feet 
below  the  present  bottom  of  the  valley.  To  the  west,  about  Bureau  Junction, 
the  stratified  beds  are  reported  to  a  depth  100  feet  below  the  river,  thus 
making  their  entire  thickness  at  this  point  200  to  250  feet.  Illinois  River 
has  excavated  its  present  course  near  the  western  margin  of  the  older 
pre-glacial  valley  with  its  deep  filling  of  stratified  drift.  For  this  reason 
only  remnants  of  this  great  deposit  of  sand  and  gravel  are  preserved  west 
of  the  river  and  these  remnants  are  along  the  bluffs  of  the  valley.  Almost 
anywhere  on  the  Hennepin  flat,  great  sections  of  soft,  sliding  sand  or  beds 
of  gravel  may  be  seen.  Within  this  area  the  roads  are  heavy  in  many  places 
because  of  the  deep  sand.  Crops  often  burn  out  from  the  effects  of  the 
summer  heat  on  the  sandy  soil,  which  becomes  parched  readily.  Along  the 
small  valleys  in  the  Hennepin  country,  wind-shifted  sand  is  here  and  there 
destroying  a  field  or  pasture,  and  in  some  places  wash  from  sandy  gulleys 
may  be  seen  to  have  overspread  fields  of  grain. 

The  materials  of  the  Hennepin  flat  are,  on  the  whole,  considerably 
finer  than  those  of  the  "high-level"  gravels  of  the  upper  valley.  Coarse 
gravels  are  found  in  the  Hennepin  beds,  but  they  are  not  common,  and 
beds  of  sand  predominate  greatly.  The  stones  of  the  gravel  do  not  as  a 
rule  show  striae  and  glaciated  surfaces,  but  are  notably  rounded  by  water. 
The  gravel  commonly  has  the  appearance  of  stream  pebbles  rather  than 
that  of  glaciated  stones,  and  the  sand  grains  are  similarly  smoothed  and 
rounded.  Because  of  greater  wear  by  water,  these  beds  lack  the  desirable 
grittiness  (angularity  of  grain)  of  the  beds  farther  upstream.  It  is  not 
probable  that  the  sands  and  gravels  in  the  Hennepin  flats  are  all  deposits 
from  one  ice  front,  but  they  may  be  accounted  for  in  the  following  manner : 

1.  Age  of  lower  beds. — The  lower  beds  of  sand  and  gravel  are  in  all 
likelihood  much  older  than  the  upper  parts  of  the  Hennepin  flat.  The 
stratified  drift  in  Illinois  Valley  below  the  "Great  Bend"  lies  in  the  great 
pre-glacial  channel  down  which  flowed  the  waters  from  melting  ice  fronts, 
perhaps  even  from  the  beginning  of  the  Ice  Age.  In  the  buried  course  of 
this  pre-glacial  valley  north  of  the  bend,  great  accumulations  of  sand  and 
gravel  of  pre-Wisconsin  age  can  be  traced  for  many  miles  beneath  the 
surface  till.  All  the  deep  wells  that  have  been  bored  into  this  buried 
depression  record  remarkable  thicknesses  of  stratified  drift  beneath  thick 
bowlder  clay.3     It  is  almost  certain,  therefore,   that  these  older  beds  of 

3Leverett,  Frank,  U.   S.  Geological  Survey  Mon.   38,  pp.  631-633. 


108  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

gravel  and  sand  persist  below  the  " Great  Bend"  in  the  old  river  valley. 

2.  Stratified  drift  on  Bureau  Creek. — A  part  of  the  sand  and  gravel 
which  was  built  into  the  Hennepin  flat  was  furnished  by  the  ice  front  which 
made  the  moraine  north  of  Depue.  The  principal  line  of  discharge  down 
which  the  drainage  from  this  ice  was  swept  was  probably  the  depression 
now  occupied  by  East  Bureau  Creek  with  its  tributary,  Brush  Creek.  The 
valleys  of  both  these  creeks  contain  great  quantities  of  stratified  drift. 
This  drift  covers  the  slopes  and  extends  considerably  below  the  bottoms  of 
the  valleys.  On  lower  Brush  Creek,  which  has  its  source  in  the  moraine, 
the  gravels  form  a  flat  along  the  western  flank  of  the  moraine.  In  several 
places,  as  shown  in  the  following  section,  these  beds  are  interstratified 
with  till  at  the  margin  of  the  moraine,  thus  establishing  their  origin  at  this 
source. 

Section  on  high  flat,  just  below  the  Eidge  School,  in  gravel  pit  east  of  the  road 

Thickness 
Feet 

4.     Till,  several  feet  at  top  of  section 

3.     Fine  gravel  with  much  sand ) 


2.     Loamy  gravel,  poorly  assorted 
1.     Till    


! 


With  one  or  two  exceptions,  all  the  stratified  drift  on  Bureau  Creek 
and  its  tributaries  consists  of  rather  fine  material,  in  which  sand 
predominates  over  gravel.    Large  beds  of  silt  are  also  common. 

This  source  of  outwash,  close  at  hand,  contributes  to  the  Hennepin 
area.  That  this  source,  however,  furnished  material  to  any  great  extent, 
appears  unlikely,  for  (1)  the  Hennepin  flat  extends  some  distance  to  the 
east  of  the  mouth  of  Bureau  Creek,  and  well  across  the  moraine  at  Depue, 
too  far  upstream  to  have  been  built  in  its  entirety  by  outwash  discharged 
from  Bureau  Creek  into  the  valley  of  the  Illinois.  (2)  The  materials  of 
the  Hennepin  flat  are,  on  the  whole,  considerably  coarser  than  those  along 
Bureau  Creek.  Silt  and  fine  sand  are  the  most  abundant  sediments  on 
Bureau  Creek,  whereas  the  Hennepin  flat  is  composed  mostly  of  fine  gravel 
and  medium  sand.  In  a  stream  flowing  on  an  aggraded  bed,  the  ability  to 
carry  coarse  material  decreases  downstream,  and  sediments  become 
correspondingly  finer.  Finer  sediments  on  Bureau  Creek  and  coarser 
sediments  below  in  Illinois  Valley  may  point  rather  to  a  filling  of  the 
Illinois,  which  ponded  the  valley  of  Bureau  Creek,  and  caused  the  deposi- 
tion of  finer  sediments  in  its  retarded  waters.  Some  of  the  sands  in  Bureau 
Valley  may  well  have  been  deposited  in  this  fashion. 

3.  Correlation  with  "Jiigli  level"  gravels. — The  position  of  the  high- 
level  gravels  from  Marseilles  down  to  the  "Great  Bend"  of  the  river,  and 
the  similarity  of  these  gravels  to  the  Hennepin  beds,  point  to  the  Marseilles 


GLACIAL  DRAINAGE  HISTORY  109 

ice  front  and  the  earlier  ice  front  to  the  west  as  the  main  sources  of  the 
materials  found  in  the  Hennepin  flat.  The  chain  of  evidence  leads  back 
from  Hennepin  and  Depue  to  the  valley  bluffs  at  Negro  Creek  and  Spring 
Creek,  and  thence  through  the  long  series  of  high-level  gravel  beds,  which 
have  been  discussed,  to  the  moraine  at  Marseilles.  The  material  of  the 
Hennepin  flat  is  appropriately  finer  than  the  gravels  upstream  as  would 
be  expected  of  the  lessening  current  downstream.  Its  waterworn  forms  be- 
speak a  somewhat  distant  origin.  The  great  size  of  the  Hennepin  flat  is 
explained  by  the  sudden  widening  of  the  river  valley,  which  permitted  the 
waters  to  spread  out  over  a  broader  surface  and  caused  them  to  become 
shallower  and  lose  in  velocity.  As  a  result  they  dropped  most  of  the  load 
which  they  had  carried. 

PONDING  OF  MORRIS  BASIN 

After  the  ice  withdrew,  the  Marseilles  moraine  served  as  a  temporary 
dam  for  the  waters  which  collected  in  the  valley  above  it.  A  lake  was  thus 
formed  in  the  Morris  basin,  in  which  the  bluish-drab  lake  clays,  mentioned 
in  the  preceding  chapter,  were  deposited.  These  clays  lie  directly  upon  the 
older  Wisconsin  till  and  are  in  turn  covered  usually  by  thin  till  of  Late 
Wisconsin  age.  The  clays  are  25  feet  thick  in  many  places  and  indicate  a 
rather  long-continued  ponding  of  the  valley.  The  Marseilles  dam,  how- 
ever, was  eroded  through  before  the  next  advance  of  the  ice,  as  the  sedi- 
ments deposited  by  the  waters  which  flowed  from  the  last  ice  sheet  show 
active  drainage  down  the  valley. 

Late  Wisconsin  Fluvio-glacial  Deposits 
valley  train 

The  last  great  sedimentation  in  the  valley  was  by  waters  which  flowed 
from  the  Late  Wisconsin  ice  front.  The  Morris  basin  was  aggraded  heavily 
by  outwash  from  the  ice  while  its  edge  stood  at  the  Minooka  ridge  and 
later  along  the  Valparaiso  moraine.  The  discharge  of  the  melting  waters 
from  this  ice  sheet  was  down  Illinois  Valley,  and  the  sediment-laden  stream 
built  a  broad  alluvial  flat  which  slopes  gently  downstream.  Such  a  flat 
built  within  a  valley  is  known  as  a  valley  train.  It  is  rather  broad  and 
low  here  with  an  indefinite  extension  downstream,  but  probably  no  longer 
recognizable  at  Marseilles.  In  the  Morris  basin  the  material  of  the  valley 
train  is  about  50  to  60  feet  thick,  at  Seneca  about  40  feet,  and  below  the 
latter  place  it  thins  out  rapidly.  In  cross-section  it  forms  a  wedge  of  sand 
and  gravel.  Its  blunt  end  lies  against  the  moraine,  and  its  thin  edge  dis- 
appears in  the  vicinity  of  Marseilles. 

In  a  few  places,  as  on  the  lower  courses  of  Bill 's  Run  and  Mazon  Creek, 
the  sands  of  the  valley  train  may  be  seen  in  cress-section.     Here  they  fill 


110 


UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 


the  older  valley,  resting  against  its  sides.  The  sediments  are  mostly  coarse 
sands  and  fine  gravel,  with  an  occasional  bit  of  coarser  gravel.  Upstream 
the  material  grows  coarser,  and  sand  gives  way  to  gravel  generally.  Above 
the  Morris  basin  the  valley  train  is  represented  chiefly  by  beds  of  gravel, 
which  becomes  very  coarse  as  the  Valparaiso  moraine  is  approached.  The 
materials  of  the  valley  train  show  greater  wear  by  water  in  the  Morris  basin 
and  below  it  than  they  do  above. 

SAND  RIDGES 

On  both  sides  of  the  valley  train  in  the  Morris  basin  are  low  ridges  of 
sand  and  gravel  which  lie  at  some  distance  from  the  river.  Near  the 
Minooka  ridge  these  sand  ridges  are  about  8  miles  apart,  but  downstream 
they  converge  so  that  they  are  but  2  miles  apart  at  Stockdale.  The  area 
between  them  is  covered  entirely  by  the  valley  train.  These  ridges,  marginal 
to  the  valley  train,  persist  throughout  the  length  of  the  Morris  basin.  The 
one  north  of  the  river  extends  northeastward  from  Stockdale  to  the  base 
of  the  moraine  below  Minooka  ;  it  is  followed  in  part  by  the  so-called  * '  Ridge 
Road,"  from  Morris  to  Minooka.  At  Sand  Ridge,  the  ridge  turns  south 
along  the  base  of  the  Minooka  morainic  ridge.  South  of  the  river,  it 
extends  almost  due  east  from  a  point  iy2  miles  above  the  mouth  of 
Waupecan  Creek  and  passes  out  of  this  region  iy2  miles  south  of  Goose 
Lake.     A  generalized  cross-section  of  these  ridges  is  shown  in  figure  40. 


Fig.  40. — Diagrammatic  cross-section  of  a  typical  beach  ridge  of  the  Morris  basin. 


In  many  places  they  show  a  belt  of  coarse  bowlders  along  their  riverward 
base.  The  ridges  themselves  are  generally  of  coarser  material  than  the  rest 
of  the  valley  train.  Their  longer  slopes  face  the  valley,  above  which  they 
rise  commonly  about  20  feet.  The  crest  is  generally  only  from  5  to  8 
feet  higher  than  the  level  of  the  land  behind  the  ridge. 

At  first  sight  they  appear  to  be  beach  ridges,  marginal  to  an  extinct 
lake.  The  coarse  sand  and  fine  gravel  which  compose  the  valley  train 
between  the  ridges,  however,  give  no  evidence  of  a  lake  at  this  time.  Nor 
does  the  downstream  slope  of  its  surface  permit  any  conclusion  other  than 
that  we  have  here  a  stream-built  flat  and  not  the  level  floor  of  a  lake.     The 


GLACIAL  DRAINAGE  HISTORY  111 

sediment  in  the  center  of  the  flat  is  not  markedly  finer  than  that  along  its 
margins,  as  would  be  the  case  if  it  had  been  deposited  in  still  waters.  The 
sediments  within  the  basin  vary  greatly  and  irregularly  within  short 
distances;  one  field  may  be  sandy,  the  next  quite  gravelly;  the  land  is  said 
to  "lie  in  strips."  All  these  characteristics  are  features  of  river  deposition 
ami  not  of  lake  work.  Rivers  ordinarily  do  not  build  marginal  ridges 
other  than  levees,  but  in  the  peculiar  conditions  of  the  Morris  basin  they 
may  have  done  so.  The  broad,  flat  basin  was  sharply  constricted  below, 
and  a  partial  ponding  of  the  glacial  outwash  in  the  Morris  basin  resulted. 
The  ridges  indicate  a  width  of  the  stream  varying  from  5  to  8  miles  above 
Morris  and  a  gradual  narrowing  to  iy2  miles  at  Seneca.  Above  Seneca  the 
glacial  river  was  very  much  like  a  lake.  The  slopes  of  the  land  on  both 
sides  of  the  river  were  likewise  low,  so  that  the  water  wras  well  exposed  to 
the  sweep  of  winds  from  all  sides.  Large  waves  could  therefore  be  set  up, 
which  were  unopposed  by  any  considerable  current,  and  which,  in  breaking 
against  the  banks  of  the  river,  could  build  the  low  ridges  that  mark  its 
margins. 

HISTORY  OF  THE  AGGRADATION 

The  source  of  the  material  of  the  valley  train  was  the  ice  front  at 
Minooka  and  later  that  at  Valparaiso.  The  valley  of  Au  Sable  Creek, 
which  is  marginal  to  the  front  of  the  Minooka  ridge,  has  beds  of  sand  and 
gravel,  at  least  as  far  north  as  the  Kendall  County  line.  Generally  these 
sedimentary  deposits  along  the  western  base  of  the  moraine  are  only  a  few 
feet  thick,  but  a  few  beds  are  of  considerable  thickness.  A  knoll  of  sand 
and  fairly  coarse  gravel  lying  just  west  of  the  Au  Sable,  above  the  mouth 
of  Wallace's  Run,  contains  about  30  feet  of  sand  and  gravel  over  till. 
Another  large  knoll  of  sand  lies  well  up  on  the  flank  of  the  moraine,  two 
miles  due  west  of  Minooka,  showing  a  section  of  30  feet  of  sand  and  coarse 
silt.  These  knolls  of  gravel  were  probably  deposited  at  the  ice  front  and 
are  known  as  kames.  The  western  flank  of  the  Minooka  Ridge  is  rather 
sandy  in  its  lower  slopes,  and  the  soil  is  a  sandy  loam,  whereas  that  on  the 
Minooka  ridge  is  clay.  The  beds  of  sand  that  lie  against  the  Minooka  ridge 
link  the  valley  train  of  the  Morris  basin  with  the  Minooka  ice  front. 

Only  a  small  part  of  the  outwash,  however,  seems  to  have  had  its 
origin  at  Minooka.  Beyond  the  head  of  the  Illinois,  a  broad  belt  of  sand 
and  gravel  reaches  from  the  southern  end  of  the  Minooka  ridge  to  a  point 
a  mile  south  of  Goose  Lake.  These  beds  extend  eastward  to  the  Valparaiso 
moraine,  east  of  the  junction  of  the  Kankakee  and  Desplaines  rivers.  They 
flank  the  western  slope  of  this  moraine  for  many  miles  north  and  south. 
In  Desplaines  Valley,  and  particularly  in  Dupage  Valley,  gravels  are  spread 
over  considerable  areas.  In  these  valleys  the  outwash  has  two  especially 
noteworthy  features:  (1)  It  becomes  decidedly  coarser  upstream,  gravels 
taking  the  place  almost  entirely  of  sand  and  silt,  and  (2)  the  surface  of 


112  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

the  beds  rises  rapidly  upstream.  In  the  Morris  basin,  the  surface  of  the 
valley  train  is  at  about  530  to  540  feet  about  tide  ■  about  Channahon,  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Dupage,  it  is  more  than  570  feet.  Figure  41  shows  a 
section  of  these  gravels  half  a  mile  east  of  Channahon,  on  the  divide  between 
the  Dupage  and  the  Desplaines  rivers.  Practically  the  entire  area  between 
the  lower  courses  of  these  rivers  is  covered  with  these  gravels.  The  country 
about  Channahon  is  as  typically  a  gravel  country  as  that  about  Morris  is 


Fig.  41. — Kecent  fluvio-glacial  gravels  east  of  Channahon  on  the  divide  between  the 
Dupage  and  Desplaines  valleys. 

a  sandy  region.  East  of  the  Desplaines,  at  Drummond,  a  large  isolated 
knoll  shows  conspicuously  bedded  gravels  on  the  smoothed  rock  surface; 
this  knoll  lies  at  the  very  base  of  the  Valparaiso  moraine,  and  connects  the 
valley  train  at  this  point  with  the  Valparaiso  moraine.  These  gravel  beds 
extend  up  Desplaines  Valley  beyond  Joliet  and  Lockport.  Here  the  eleva- 
tion of  their  surfaces  is  well  above  600  feet,  and  the  material  is  very  coarse 
and  ill-worn.4 

TRIBUTARY  FILLING 

While  the  upper  Illinois  was  being  aggraded  by  outwash  from  the 
Late   Wisconsin   ice,   its   tributaries   were   ponded   by   the   swollen   main 


"Goldthwaite,   Illinois  Geol.   Survey  Bull.   11,  pp.  49-52. 


GLACIAL  DRAINAGE  HISTORY  113 

stream  and  partially  filled.  Tributary  valley  fillings  are  a  persistent 
feature  throughout  the  Morris  basin.  The  main  stream  had  a  sluggish 
current  and  deposited  sands  chiefly;  the  retarded  tributaries,  correspond- 
ingly, filled  in  their  valleys  with  silt.  Nettle  Creek  Valley  was  aggraded  at 
least  40  feet  in  its  lower  and  middle  course.  Its  valley  is  still  heavily  filled, 
the  post-glacial  stream  having  merely  re-excavated  a  channel  to  about  the 
depth  of  the  former  channel.  Mazon  Creek  shows  also  valley  filling,  and 
its  slopes  are  heavily  mantled  with  silt. 

CONCENTRATION  OF  BOWLDERS 

Bowlders  are  found  in  only  a  few  places  in  the  Morris  flat.  They  are 
rather  abundant  (1)  at  the  base  of  the  ridges  marginal  to  the  valley  train, 
and  (2)  near  the  head  of  the  Illinois,  especially  west  of  the  tracks  of  the 
Elgin,  Joliet,  and  Eastern  Railroad.  The  coarse  material  along  the  former 
margins  of  the  river  may  have  been  left  by  undercutting  of  its  bank,  in 
which  the  finer  material  was  washed  away,  or  waves  may  have  helped  to 
roll  them  up  from  the  floor  of  the  river,  or  ice  blocks  may  have  become 
stranded  on  the  banks  and  dropped  their  bowlders  as  they  melted.  At  the 
head  of  the  Illinois  the  waters  which  swept  down  from  the  steeper  slopes 
above  spread  out  over  the  broad,  shallow  Morris  basin,  and  ice  blocks  which 
were  carried  down  may  have  become  grounded  Avith  their  load  of  bowlders. 
Much  of  the  coarse  material  at  the  head  of  the  Illinois  probably  has  come 
from  the  erosion  of  the  southern  end  of  the  Minooka  ridge  by  the  Outlet 
River. 

summary 

The  extension  of  the  late  Wisconsin  ice  to  Minooka,  and  more 
especially  its  halt  along  the  Valparaiso  moraine,  was  accompanied  by  a 
great  outflow  of  debris-laden  waters  from  the  ice  front.  These  flowed 
through  depressions  marginal  to  the  ice,  as  Au  Sable  Valley,  and  later 
reached  the  valley  of  the  Illinois  itself.  Gravels  were  deposited  above 
Channahon,  sand  and  gravel  in  the  Morris  flat.  Below  Seneca  the  valley 
train  plays  out  gradually.  Sections  of  sand  of  70  feet  and  over  and  heavily 
aggraded  tributaries  record  the  great  extent  of  deposition  in  the  Morris 
basin  during  this  stage.  Because  of  its  lesser  age,  the  record  is  much  less 
obscured  than  that  of  the  older  drainage  of  the  western  part  of  the  valley. 

Outlet  River 

After  the  building  of  the  Valparaiso  moraine,  the  ice  retreated 
gradually  northward  and  northeastward,  rallying  once,  and  finally  with- 
drawing completely  from  the  region.  As  the  ice  melted  back  from  the 
Valparaiso  moraine,  its  waters  no  longer  found  free  drainage  down  Illinois 


114  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

Valley,  but  were  ponded  behind  this  great  till  ridge  and  other  deposits  of 
till  to  the  north.  The  lake  thus  formed  is  known  as  Lake  Chicago,  ancestor 
of  the  present  Lake  Michigan.  The  ponded  waters  rose  gradually  until 
they  overflowed  depressions  in  the  retaining  wall  of  drift  above  Lemont, 
and  eroded  the  outlet  which  they  had  discovered.  For  a  long  time  the 
glacial  lake  drained  westward  into  the  valley  now  occupied  by  the 
Desplaines,  and  thence  into  the  Illinois,  by  means  of  this  so-called  Outlet 
River. 

Locally,  erosion  by  Outlet  River  was  not  great.  The  glacial  stream 
inherited  a  valley,  whose  rock  floor  appears  to  have  been  essentially  as  deep 
as  at  present,  but  which  had  been  aggraded  considerably  by  outwash  from 
the  Valparaiso  moraine.  Outlet  River  may  have  lowered  the  valley  from 
the  40-foot  terrace,  which  is  common  to  most  parts  of  the  upper  valley,  to 
the  present  level  of  its  channel.  In  the  Morris  basin  this  terrace  is  ill- 
defined,  but  is  probably  represented  by  the  level  of  the  surface  of  the  late 
Wisconsin  valley  train.  Farther  down  the  valley,  at  least  as  far  as  the 
western  limits  of  the  area,  is  a  terrace  at  about  the  same  level,  on  rock, 
covered  with  sand  or  gravel,  and  interrupted  occasionally  by  old  stream 
channels.  This  40-foot  terrace  may  have  been  developed  by  aggradation  by 
Minooka-Valparaiso  outwash,  and  by  side  cutting  of  its  meandering  stream. 
There  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  Outlet  River  did  more  than  lower  the 
valley  of  the  Illinois  from  the  40-foot  terrace,  and  it  may  have  done 
considerably  less.  The  greatest  part  of  its  work  has  consisted  certainly  in 
clearing  out  the  Late  Wisconsin  valley  train,  and  even  of  this  it  has  left 
the  greater  part  untouched.  Although  a  great  volume  of  water  swept  down 
the  Illinois  from  glacial  Lake  Chicago,  it  may  not  have  been  of  much  greater 
volume  than  the  glacial  streams  issuing  at  other  periods  from  various  ice 
fronts  which  were  thrown  across  the  valley  and  discharged  their  outwash 
down  the  Illinois.  Outlet  River  was  one  of  the  last  brief  phenomena  of  the 
rapidly  dying  period  of  glaciation,  and  its  role  in  upper  Illinois  Valley  was 
not  of  the  order  of  importance  which  has  generally  been  ascribed  to  it. 

In  its  continued  retreat  northward,  the  ice  uncovered  several  lines  of 
discharge  for  the  lakes  at  its  margins  lower  than  that  taken  by  Outlet 
River.  One  of  these  was  the  Mohawk  depression  in  New  York,  now  followed 
by  the  Erie  Canal.  Later  the  present  valley  of  the  St.  Lawrence  was  uncov- 
ered. Thus  the  outflow  was  diverted  from  Illinois  Valley,  and  modern  Illi- 
nois River  was  formed  by  the  collected  run-off  of  the  intermorainic  troughs 
of  the  Late  Wisconsin  drift,  namely  the  valleys  of  the  Kankakee,  Desplaines, 
and  Dupage  rivers.  Recently,  man  has  re-established  the  old  drainage  line 
by  cutting  the  Chicago  Ship  and  Drainage  Canal  through  the  low  divide, 
so  that  water  from  Lake  Michigan  again  flows  into  the  Illinois,  and  thence 
into  the  Mississippi.     Interesting  estimates  have  been  made,  which  show 


GLACIAL  DRAINAGE  HISTORY  115 

that,  with  a  continuation  of  the  upwarping  of  the  northeastern  part  of  our 
continent,  now  going  on,  the  western  Great  Lakes  may  be  cut  off  from  their 
eastern  drainage  line  in  the  course  of  several  thousand  years  and  may 
discharge  again  through  their  abandoned  glacial  channel  into  Illinois  River. 


CHAPTER  VI— PRESENT  ACTIVE  PHYSIOGRAPHIC  PROCESSES 

Work  of  Wind 
characteristics  of  deposit 

Strong  winds  are  able  to  shift  about  much  sand  and  dust,  especially  if 
there  is  no  protecting  cover  of  vegetation.  Immediately  after  the  close  of 
the  Ice  Age,  before  vegetation  has  established  itself  upon  the  surface  of  the 
drift,  the  wind  was  peculiarly  effective  in  forming  loess  or  dust  deposits, 
and  sand  dunes.  Recently,  since  the  general  cultivation  of  the  land,  the 
soil  particles  have  again  been  exposed  extensively  to  the  sweep  of  the 
winds,  with  the  result  that  much  dust  is  again  blown  about  in  dry  weather. 
Wind-made  deposits  show  no  definite  limits,  either  vertically  or  horizontally, 
nor  is  there  commonly  any  regularity  in  their  thicknesses. 

MAKING  OF  DUNES 

Mention  was  made  in  the  preceding  chapter  of  the  great  deposits  of 
sand,  silt,  and  gravel  which  formed  in  Illinois  Valley  during  the  Ice  Age. 
Sand  and  silt  predominated  especially  about  Hennepin  and  in  the  Morris 
basin,  and  in  these  two  sections  the  wind  found  an  exceptionally  favorable 
field  for  activity.  Where  sand  was  exposed  abundantly  at  the  surface,  and 
the  wind  had  an  effective  sweep,  dunes  were  formed  near  the  source  of 
supply.  At  greater  distances  the  wind  spread  out  thin  deposits  of  sand 
in  irregular  sheets. 

About  Hennepin  the  wind  (1)  piled  up  much  sand  into  dunes  on  the 
flat,  and  (2)  spread  a  veneer  of  sand  over  the  upland  to  the  east  of  the 
flat.  Both  features  are  well  shown  about  Moronts,  which  lies  on  the 
border  between  the  flat  and  the  till  upland.  There  are  numerous  dunes 
on  the  flat,  and  on  the  margin  of  the  prairie  sand  is  heaped  into  small  dunes 
three  to  five  feet  high.  Eastward,  the  sand  becomes  thinner  and  grades 
into  buff,  sandy  loess.  This  sand-  and  loess-covered  belt  of  prairie  marginal 
to  the  Hennepin  flat  is  about  three  miles  wide.  The  gradation  from  coarse 
dune  sand  near  the  flat  to  fine  loess  on  its  eastern  margin  is  regular,  and  is 
an  expression  of  the  distance  the  material  was  carried. 

Upon  Buffalo  Rock  near  its  western  end,  are  several  mounds  of  sand, 
10  to  15  feet  high.  In  their  present  form,  at  least,  the  hills  are  wind  made. 
Again,  south  of  the  river  and  west  of  Covel  Creek  are  low  rock-knobs  upon 
the  river  terrace.  The  terrace  has  an  almost  universal  cover  of  gravels 
and  of  very  coarse  sand.  These  knobs  of  rock,  however,  are  veneered  with 
sand  which  the  wind  spread  over  them  and  so  gave  to  them  the  appearance 
of  dunes. 

(  U6  ) 


ACTIVE    PHYSIOGRAPHIC  PROCESSES  117 

The  most  conspicuous  sand  hills  of  the  region  are  in  the  Morris  basin. 
Here  an  abundance  of  material  was  furnished  by  the  fine  outwash  from  the 
Late  Wisconsin  ice.  All  along  this  part  of  the  valley  the  sand  of  the  valley 
train  has  been  heaped  into  unstable  hills,  which  creep  out  over  fields  or 
fill  roads  with  sand,  five  to  six  inches  deep.  Of  the  many  low  knolls  in  the 
Morris  basin  only  a  few,  however,  are  dunes.  Many  are  knolls  of  gravel 
or  rock  that  are  merely  surfaced  with  sand.  The  largest  dunes  are  those 
of  Sand  Ridge  at  the  base  of  the  Minooka  Ridge.  Here  are  a  number  of 
elongated  hills  of  loose  yellow  sand,  which  once  formed  part  of  the  northern 
"beach  ridge"  of  the  Illinois.  They  are  from  50  to  180  yards  wide  and 
extend  in  a  curving  and  interrupted  series  for  a  mile  on  both  sides  of  the 
Sand  Ridge  station.  This  wave-formed  ridge  was  worked  over  gradually 
by  the  wind  and  heaped  into  a  chain  of  hills,  between  which  the  wind 
scoured  out  the  sand  and  thus  interrupted  its  continuity. 

SHIFTING  OF  DUST 

Far  more  dust  than  sand  is  blown  about  by  the  wind,  because  the  dust 
particles  are  smaller  and  expose  a  relatively  greater  surface  to  wind 
pressure.  This  phase  of  wind  work  is  not  nearly  so  apparent,  however, 
because  dust  is  moved  so  readily  that  it  is  not  generally  lodged  in  well- 
defined  heaps.  Dust  is  on  almost  every  dry  surface  and  is  carried  by  almost 
every  air  current.  The  upland  clay  which  overlies  the  drift  in  much  of 
the  region  may  be  in  part  a  wind  deposit  blown  up  from  the  dried  silts  of 
the  glacial  outwash.  It  is  also  in  part  of  subsequent  accumulation,  almost 
constant  contributions  having  been  made  by  the  winds,  particularly  by  the 
dry  winds  of  spring  and  summer.  The  quantity  of  dust  which  winds  may 
whirl  over  the  prairie  is  well  illustrated  by  almost  any  dry,  windy  day. 
Air  currents  may  then  be  seen]  whipping  up  clouds  of  dust  from  the  dry 
fields  and  sending  them  flying  over  the  prairie  surface,  until  the  gust  is 
spent  or  some  obstruction  catches  the  dust. 

Work  of  Ground  Water 
springs  and  wells 

It  is  estimated  that  about  half  the  rain  which  falls  on  this  country  is 
evaporated  and  restored  to  the  atmosphere ;  about  one-third  runs  off ;  and 
the  remainder  sinks  into  the  ground,  there  forming  a  subterranean  reservoir 
known  as  the  ground  water.1  The  water  which  sinks  beneath  the  surface  is 
stored  in  the  pore  spaces  in  the  rock  or  drift  and  flows  under  action  of 
gravity,  as  surface  water  does,  though  far  more  slowly.  Where  the  pore 
spaces  are  large,  it  moves  more  readily  than  where  the  texture  is  fine. 
Porous  beds,  if  underlain  by  an  impervious  layer  that  does  not  allow  the 

aMcGee,   W.   J.,    Report   National   Conservation   Commission,   vol.    1,   p.   39. 


118  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

water  to  pass  through,  become  reservoirs  for  the  surface  water  that  seeps 
into  them  and  are  then  called  "water  veins."  If  a  porous,  water-filled 
bed  outcrops  on  a  slope,  it  may  give  rise  to  springs. 

South  of  Spring  Valley  springs  are  common  on  the  slopes  of  Illinois 
Valley.  Most  of  them  are  formed  by  gravel  beds  that  overlie  impervious 
"cement  rock"  (conglomerate  formed  by  the  cementation  of  glacial 
gravel).  In  many  places  in  the  till,  patches  or  pockets  of  gravel  furnish 
water;  most  of  the  shallow  wells  of  the  prairie  derive  their  supply  from 
gravel  lenses  that  lie  beneath  the  surface.  The  depth  of  the  wells  varies 
greatly  and  irregularly,  and  is  due  to  the  irregular  and  discontinuous 
distribution  of  the  lenses  of  gravel.  In  cuts  stratified  material  which  is 
interbedded  with  till  may  generally  be  distinguished  at  a  distance  by  its 
moist  surface.  In  the  ' '  Coal  Measures, ' '  the  porous  sandstone  beds  furnish 
considerable  water.  The  St.  Peter  sandstone  has  the  Prairie  du  Chien  lime- 
stone as  an  impervious  base ;  this  combination  makes  the  St.  Peter  sandstone 
the  most  important  water-bearing  formation  of  the  region. 

The  upper  surface  of  the  ground  water  (the  water  table)  is  generally 
some  distance  beneath  the  surface  of  the  ground.  Rains  replenish  the 
ground  water.  When  rains  are  heavy  they  may  raise  the  level  of  the 
ground  water  nearly  or  quite  to  the  surface  of  the  ground.  If  the  rain- 
fall is  deficient,  evaporation  and  seepage  may  cause  the  ground-water  level 
to  sink  many  feet.  The  more  porous  the  soil,  the  more  will  the  surface  of 
the  ground  water  vary.  The  stiff  clay  soil  of  this  region  retards  evaporation 
and  seepage  so  that  in  most  places  prairie  wells  no  more  than  20  feet  deep 
do  not  go  dry  even  in  seasons  of  deficient  rain.  Similarly,  most  prairie-fed 
streams  have  a  rather  constant  flow,  being  supplied  by  dependable  springs 
wherever  their  channels  are  below  the  ground-water  level.  On  the  other 
hand,  in  the  gravel  country  of  Putnam  and  Bureau  counties  evaporation 
from  the  soil  is  much  more  rapid  because  of  its  high  porosity,  and  the 
ground  water  nearly  or  quite  to  the  surface  of  the  ground.  If  the  rain- 
Creek,  Putnam  County,  is  comparable  in  depth  and  width  to  most  of  the 
prairie  streams,  yet  it  is  diiy  during  the  summer  and  fall,  except  after 
rains.  Streams  to  the  east  that  flow  through  till,  although  much  smaller 
than  this  one,  have  permanent  streams. 

Flowing  wells  are  numerous  in  the  lowlands  of  this  region.  Flowing 
water  may  be  secured  almost  anywhere  in  the  valleys  of  the  Illinois  and  the 
Fox  and  generally  in  the  Morris  basin.  Most  of  the  artesion  wells  are 
drilled  into  the  St.  Peter  sandstone,  but  flowing  wells  have  been  secured 
in  every  sufficiently  porous  formation  underlying  the  region  from  the 
Potsdam  to  the  "Coal  Measures"  sandstones.  Any  given  formation  lies 
considerably  deeper  west  of  the  anticline  than  east  of  it,  so  that  wells  must 
be  drilled  deeper  in  the  western  region  to  reach   water-bearing   horizons. 


AOTIVK    PHYSIOGRAPHIC   PROCESSES 


119 


Shallow  wells  of  strong  flow  are  numerous  in  the  eastern  half  of  the  valley, 
which  is  underlain  at  slight  depths  by  the  St.  Peter  sandstone. 

The  water  in  an  artesion  well  flows  out  under  pressure  similar  to  that 
of  a  stand-pipe.  The  water-bearing  beds  outcrop  to  the  north  over  wide 
areas  at  considerably  higher  elevations.  Great  quantities  of  water  are 
collected  in  these  regions,  especially  in  Wisconsin,  and  carried  underground 
by  the  southward  dip  of  the  beds.  The  wrater  moves  dowm  the  dip,  comes 
under  constantly  greater  head,  and  when  released  from  this  pressure  flows 
forth  with  considerable  force  (fig.  42). 


Fig.  42. — Diagrammatic  illustration  of  conditions  favorable  to  artesian  wells. 


SOLUTION   AND    REDEPOSITION 

Ground  water  is  much  more  active  chemically  than  the  run-off. 
Ground  water  moves  under  pressure  which  increases  its  dissolving  power, 
and  it  comes  in  contact  with  a  greater  area  of  rock  surface  in  its 
interstitial  wanderings  than  does  surface  water.  It  thus  has  excellent 
opportunities  to  take  mineral  matter  into  solution.  It  is  especially  active 
in  leaching  soluble  materials  from  the  surface  zone.  Among  its  most 
abundant  constituents  is  lime  carbonate,  which  may  be  leached  out  almost 
entirely  from  the  upper  two  feet  of  the  soil.  The  depth  of  leaching 
furnishes  a  means  of  estimating  the  relative  lengths  of  time  during  which 
the  surface  tills  have  been  exposed.  About  Minooka  the  calcium  carbonate 
has  been  removed  only  to  a  slight  extent;  west  of  the  Marseilles  moraine 
the  surface  clay  has  been  leached  for  several  feet;  farther  south  the  tills 
of  central  and  southern  Illinois  have  been  leached  so  deeply  as  to  impair 
seriously  the  fertility  of  the  soils. 

With  increasing  depth  the  waters  become  increasingly  charged  with 
mineral  matter  which  they  have  taken  into  solution.  The  water  of  the 
shallow  wells  is  only  moderately  "hard;"  the  deeper  wells  of  the  region 
have  highly  mineralized  waters.  Those  of  the  "Coal  Measures"  are 
generally  salty  or  bitter,  and  those  of  the  St.  Peter  sandstone  are  known 
favorably  to  health  seekers  for  their  charge  of  sulphureted  hydrogen. 

The  dissolved  materials  are  commonly  deposited  again,  either  by 
evaporation  as  the  water  seeps  to  the  surface,  or  by  chemical  precipitation 
which  takes  place  where  waters  charged  with  different  chemical  compounds 
mingle,  or  when  a  decrease  of  pressure  reduces  the  ability  of  the  water  to 


120 


UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 


hold  material  in  solution.  Ground  water  on  evaporation  at  the  surface  may 
leave  its  mineral  material  behind  in  the  form  of  an  efflorescence.  Figure  43 
shows  an  efflorescence  of  yellow  and  white  clusters  of  a  variety  of  salts. 
Till  is  tinged  white  in  places  by  incrustations  of  calcium  carbonate  formed 
in  the  evaporation  of  its  ground  water. 

•Concretions  are  formed  by  ground  water  in  the  manner  noted  in 
Chapter  III.  The  process  is  still  going  on  in  many  places.  Concretions 
may  be  seen  forming,  particularly  in  glacial  clays,  and    also    in    various 


Fig.  43. — Incrustation  of  various  mineral  salts  on  the  surface  of  "Coal  Measures" 
shales.  The  salts  are  being  deposited  by  the  evaporation  of  the  ground  water  as  it 
seeps  to  the  surface. 

glacial  gravel  beds.  The  high-level  gravels  show,  in  many  places,  concretions 
of  iron  carbonate,  built  up  of  thin  concentric  layers.  The  loess  of  the 
region,  contrary  to  its  general  custom,  carries  few  concretions. 

The  "cement  beds"  found  in  the  stratified  drift  are  an  excellent 
illustration  of  deposition  by  ground  water.  These  beds  are  best  developed 
in  the  ' ' high-level ' '  gravels  (fig.  44) .  They  are  most  commonly  found  at  the 
base  of  the  gravel,  but  may  constitute  a  series  of  beds  at  various  horizons 
in  a  gravel  pit.  The  chief  cementing  material  is  calcium  carbonate,  derived 
by  solution  from  the  abundant  limestone  in  the  drift.  Cementation  has 
been  so  complete  in  many  cases,  that  the  conglomerate  fractures  across  the 
pebbles  instead  of  around  them,  thus  showing  that  the  cement  is  stronger 


ACTIVE    PHYSIOGRAPHIC   PROCESSES 


121 


than  the  materials  cemented.  Less  common  than  conglomerates  are  sand- 
stones of  post-glacial  origin;  such  beds  are  found  in  the  Hennepin  region. 
Shales  formed  by  the  cementation  of  glacial  silt,  lie  at  the  base  of  the  Peru 
beds.  These  various  cemented  beds  are  at  the  contact  of  two  beds  of  differ- 
ent textures ;  this  may  be  either  at  the  contact  of  different  beds  of  stratified 
drift,  or  at  the  contact  of  stratified  drift  and  till.  In  any  case,  the  cementa- 
tion is  due  to  a  change  in  the  circulation  of  the  ground  water,  which  caused 


*m 


• 


Fig.  44. — Cemented  gravels  of  glacial  origin  in  a  pit  south  of  Spring  Valley.  These 
' '  cement  beds ' '  are  common  features  of  the  glacial  gravels  of  the  region  and  are  in 
many  places  very  hard  conglomerates. 

the  deposition  of  part  of  the  material  in  solution  as  a  coating  on  the  walls 
of  its  pore  spaces,  until  they  were  gradually  filled. 


Weathering 

Weathering  is  the  slow,  unobtrusive  disintegration  of  rocks  by  the 
chemical  action  of  air,  by  ground  water,  by  changes  of  temperature,  by 
plants,  and  other  agents.  The  weathering  of  rock  gives  rise  to  soil,  and 
also  prepares  the  surface  materials  for  erosion  and  transportation.  The 
process  is  going  on  everywhere  at  the  surface  of  the  earth.  On  slopes  the 
weathered  material  becomes  lubricated  by  water  from  rains  and  creeps 
slowly  down  hill  under  the  pull  of  gravity.  Large  masses  that  slide  down 
suddenly  are  then  said  to  have  slumped;  such  slump  masses  are  common 


122 


UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 


locally  on  all  steep-sided  till  valleys.  Trees  and  bushes  carried  down  in 
these  miniature  land  slides  are  tilted  and  betray  the  occurrence  of  such  a 
slide.  By  starting  material  on  its  way  toward  streams,  creep  and  slump 
are  early  steps  in  erosion. 

In  the  weathering  of  firm  rock  certain  characteristic  features  are 
developed.  Most  of  the  bowlders  now  exposed  at  the  surface  do  not  show 
striae  or  planed  faces,  although  they  were  glaciated.  The  surface  parts  of 
exposed  bowlders  are  generally  scaling  off,  whereas  the  body  of  the  rock 
remains  undecomposed.  This  scaling  off,  or  exfoliation,  is  due  to  the  greater 


^W 


v%*  ' 


Fig.  45. — Igneous  bowlder  containing  large  crystals  that  have  resisted  weathering 
more  successfully  than  the  ground  mass  of  the  rock,  and  hence  stand  out  in  relief. 


heating  of  the  exterior  of  the  rock  by  day  and  its  greater  cooling  by  night. 
Expansion  and  contraction  due  to  changes  of  temperature  are  greater  in 
the  outershell  than  within,  strains  are  set  up  between  the  outer  shell  and 
the  inner  body,  and  exfoliation  results. 

Some  part  of  a  given  rock  may  weather  more  rapidly  than  the  rest  of 
it,  so  that  an  uneven  surface  will  be  developed  by  continued  weathering. 
Illustrations  of  this  are  shown  in  figures  19  and  45.  In  the  former,  small 
veins  stand  out  as  ridges  in  the  rock,  because  of  their  superior  resistance 
to  weathering ;  in  the  latter,  the  large  crystals  stand  out  in  relief  from  the 
ground  mass  of  the  rock  for  the  same  reason. 


ACTIVE    PHYSIOGRAPHIC  PROOKSSKS 


123 


Numerous  other  effects  of  weathering  might  be  mentioned.  It  suffices 
to  say,  however,  that  all  the  obscure  processes  grouped  together  under  this 
name,  tend  to  increase  gradually  the  quantity  of  the  soil. 

Work  of  Streams 
development  op  valleys 

ORIGINAL   POST-GLACIAL    SURFACE 

The  ice,  especially  by  its  deposits,  destroyed  most  of  the  pre-glacial 
drainage  lines  and  left  an  uneven  surface  marked  by  slight  elevations  with 


Fig.  46. — Very  recent  gully  in  pasture  on  Kickapoo  Creek. 


intervening  discontinuous  depressions.  Illinois  Valley  and  most  of  its 
larger  tributaries  were  in  existence  at  the  close  of  the  Ice  Age  and  have 
only  been  deepened  since.  The  smaller  valleys,  however,  are  chiefly  the 
product  of  post-glacial  erosion.  The  steps  in  their  formation  are  outlined 
below : 

GROWTH   OF   GULLIES 

In  the  first  stages  of  its  development  a  valley  is  called  a  gully.  Such 
valleys  in  extreme  youth  may  be  seen  almost  anywhere  in  the  region, 
especially  on  the  slopes  of  the  larger  valleys.     Figure   46   shows   a   gully 


124 


UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 


starting  on  a  hillside  pasture,  and  figure  47  shows  a  ravine  (a  gully 
growing  up)  of  somewhat  greater  age.  The  latter  figure  shows  the  steep 
slopes  characteristic  of  ravines  and  young  valleys,  slopes  commonly  as 
steep  as  the  material  of  which  they  are  composed  will  allow.  The  V-shaped 
cross-section  of  young  valleys  is  also  well  shown  in  this  illustration.  Other 
features  which  are  characteristic  of  youthful  valleys  are  great  depth  of 
valley  relative  to  width,  and  steep  grade  of  the  channel. 


• 


Fig.  47. — Cross-section  of  a  young,  V-shaped  valley  south  of  Marseilles. 


Gullies  may  develop  on  all  land  surfaces  sufficiently  elevated  for 
erosion  by  running  water.  (1)  If  the  land  is  slightly  uneven,  as  most  land 
is,  any  depression  will  collect  more  water  than  the  surface  about  it,  and 
if  it  has  an  outlet,  it  will  be  deepened  by  the  running  water.  (2)  At  one 
place  the  soil  or  rock  at  the  surface  may  be  less  resistant  than  at  others, 
and  consequently  will  erode  more  rapidly.  (3)  By  the  destruction  of  a 
protecting  cover  of  vegetation  the  soil  may  be  exposed  to  erosion. 
Apparently  trifling  causes  may  then  lead  to  the  development  of  destructive 
gullies. 

A  gully  once  started  is  enlarged  by  the  run-off  of  each  successive 
shower;  each  enlargement  causes  it  to  gather  more  water,  so  that  growth 


ACTIVE    PHYSIOGRAPHIC  PROCESSES  125 

once  begun  continues  at  an  increasing  rate.  The  bed  of  the  gully  is  worn 
down  more  rapidly  than  its  sides  because  more  water  flows  over  it.  As  long 
as  the  bed  is  lowered  more  rapidly  than  the  sides  are  worn  back,  the  valley 
remains  steepsided  and  narrow.  While  the  sides  are  being  worn  back  and 
the  bed  lowered,  the  head  of  the  gully  is  also  being  cut  back,  and  it  is 
therefore  lengthened.  In  its  youth,  a  valley  generally  grows  faster  in 
length  and  depth  than  in  width. 

When  a  gully  has  become  more  than  a  few  rods  long,  or  a  few  yards 
wide,  it  is  commonly  called  a  ravine.  When  its  bed  is  lowered  to  the  surface 
of  the  ground  water,  it  no  longer  depends  solely  upon  rains  for  water,  but 
seepage  from  the  ground  water  enters  the  valley  and  forms  a  more  or  less 
permanent  stream.  As  the  ravine  grows,  small  gullies  are  started  on  its 
slopes,  and  so  on  until  an  endlessly  branching  drainage  system  is  developed. 

As  valleys  which  have  had  but  short  histories  are  called  youthful,  so 
a  region  which  has  been  furrowed  but  slightly  by  valleys  Is  said  to  have 
a  youthful  topography.  This  is  the  character  of  most  of  the  prairie  of  this 
region,  whose  surface  is  essentially  as  it  was  left  by  the  ice.  Only  a  few 
streams  have  notched  its  surface,  and  the  upper  courses  of  most  of  the 
streams  of  the  region  have  no  valleys  of  their  own,  but  follow  chains  of 
shallow  depressions  in  the  drift  of  the  prairie.  Except  in  the  zone 
immediately  bordering  the  river,  the  dissection  of  the  surface  of  the  prairie 
has  scarcely  begun. 

DEVELOPMENT  OF  VALLEY  FLATS 

As  erosion  continues,  the  rate  at  which  the  valley  is  lengthened  and 
deepened  decreases,  and  the  time  comes  when  growth  in  these  directions 
ceases  entirely.  But  the  widening  of  a  valley  does  not  cease.  When  the 
head  of  a  valley  has  worked  back  to  the  edge  of  another  drainage  basin, 
the  valley  may  cease  to  grow  in  length.  In  other  words,  a  permanent 
divide  becomes  established.  Similarly  the  deeping  of  the  channel  ceases 
when  the  gradient  of  the  stream  has  been  so  reduced  that  the  sluggish  stream 
can  no  longer  wear  its  bottom  deeper.  But  long  after  the  stream  has  ceased 
to  grow  in  length  and  depth,  its  sides  are  still  being  worn  back  by  slope 
wash  and  side  cutting. 

A  stream  that  has  so  reduced  its  current  that  it  is  unable  to  erode  its 
bed  further  is  said  to  be  at  grade.  A  stream  at  this  stage  is  able  still  to 
undercut  its  banks  and  widen  the  bottom  of  its  valley.  A  flat  is  thus 
gradually  developed  by  side  cutting,  and  upon  this  floor  the  stream  deposits 
in  time  of  flood  the  sediments  which  its  upper  water  and  tributary  streams 
have  contributed.  The  flat  which  the  stream  covers  in  time  of  flood  is  called 
a  flood  plain.  A  stream  which  has  built  an  extensive  flood  plain  is  said  to 
be  mature.  The  older  the  stream  is,  topographically  speaking,  the  wider  is 
its  flood  plain.  A  mature  stream  has  a  sluggish  current,  and  is  easily 
deflected  from  its  course  by  obstructions  in  its  channel.     Except  in  times 


126 


UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 


of  flood,  it  wanders  about  feebly,  and  may  be  deflected  by  any  obstruction 
against  which  it  flows.  Under  these  conditions  it  swings  back  and  forth 
across  its  flat  in  an  ever-widening  series  of  bends,  called  meanders.  At  the 
outer  edge  of  these  bends  it  may  undercut  its  bluffs  and  so  maintain  steep 
valley  sides.  Meanders  are  characteristic  of  all  depositing  streams  and  are 
well  shown  in  Illinois  Valley  below  Peru. 

STAGES   OF   VALLEY  DEVELOPMENT    IN    THIS   REGION 

All  stages  of  topographic  development  may  be  shown  by  a  single  valley. 
The  lower  course  may  be  in  old  age,  while  its  headwaters  and  the  upper 
courses  of  its  tributaries  may  be  in  extreme  youth.  This  condition  is  true 
of  the  Mississippi   system   and   in  a  less   complete  way  of   the   Illinois. 


Fig.  48. — Diagrammatic  illustration  of  the  formation  of  an  ox-bow  lake. 


The  upper  Illinois  basin  contains  all  gradations  from  gullies  that  are  just 
started,  to  Illinois  Valley,  which  below  Peru,  is  well  along  in  maturity. 

Illinois  Valley  itself  shows  various  stages  of  development  in  its  various 
parts.  Below  the  Vermilion  rivers,  it  has  developed  a  flood  plain  a  mile 
wide,  and  the  sluggish  stream  meanders  in  the  valley  with  a  gradient  so  low 
that  erosion  has  practically  ceased  (see  cross-section  at  Peru,  figure  5). 
Above,  the  valley  is  in  a  much  earlier  stage  of  development  and  has  not  yet 
destroyed  a  series  of  rapids  formed  by  beds  of  hard  rock  in  its  channel. 
On  its  lower  course  the  meanders  of  the  river  carry  it  from  one  side  of  the 
valley  to  the  other,  and  on  the  flood  plain  are  numerous  ox-bow  lakes.  They 
are  remnants  of  old  stream  meanders  which  were  abandoned  and  partially 
silted  up  as  the  stream  shortened  its  course  in  breaking  through  the 
narrowed  neck  of  a  meander,  as  shown  at  A,  figure  48.    Figure  49  illustrates 


ACTIVE    PHYSIOGRAPHIC   PROCESSES 


127 


the  gradual  destruction  of  such  a  stagnant  pool.  (1)  Swamp  vegetation 
rapidly  encroaches  upon  their  borders  and  helps  to  fill  them  with  its  dead 
leaves  and  stems  ;  (2)  spring  floods  leave  some  sediment  in  overflowing  these 
sloughs;  (3)  finally,  wash  from  the  sides  helps  in  their  obliteration.  Their 
desl  ruction  is  rapid,  and  a  decrease  in  their  size  may  be  noted  in  some  cases 
in  a  few  years.  Some  of  the  older  maps  of  the  region  show  cut-off  lakes 
on  the  flood  plain  below  Spring  Valley  which  are  much  larger  than  at 
present.    Lake  Depue,  one  of  the  largest  of  these  cut-off  lakes,  is  maintained 


Fig.  49. — Stagnant  pool  gradually  being  filled  by  vegetation. 

by  springs  which  issue  on  its  floor.  As  is  often  the  case  with  mature  and 
adolescent  streams,  the  sides  of  the  Illinois  Valley  are  in  general  steep. 
This  is  due  chiefly  to  undercutting. 

Most  of  the  larger  tributaries  have  developed  valley  flats  in  their  lower 
courses.  This  is  true  especially  of  the  western  tributaries.  Spring  Creek, 
Bureau  Creek,  and  even  Cedar  Creek  have  broad  flats.  Within  each  of 
these  valleys,  the  flood  plains  afford  room  for  cultivated  fields.  Farther 
east  the  valleys  are  chiefly  narrow  and  deep,  in  many  cases  canyon-like. 


ADJUSTMENT   OF    TRIBUTARIES 


Adjustment  of  the  lower  courses  of  tributaries  to  the  changes  of  the 
main  channel  have  been  rather  common  in  this  region.  The  lowest  tributary 


128 


UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 


of  Fox  River  from  the  east  flows  toward  the  Illinois  until  it  reaches  the 
valley  of  the .  latter.  It  then  turns  west  along  the  northern  margin  of 
Illinois  Valley  and  joins  the  Fox  at  the  point  where  the  latter  enters  the 
broad  terrace  of  the  Illinois.  The  lower  part  of  this  tributary  occupies 
an  abandoned  channel  of  Illinois  River.     The  Illinois  now  flows  along  the 


Fig.  50. — Sketch  map  showing  the  relation  of  the  lowest  tributary  of  Fox  Eiver  to 
the  abandoned  channel  of  Illinois  Eiver. 


"/ ZT^ 


Fig.  51. — Sketch  map  showing  the  relation  of  some  of  the  tributaries  of  the  Illinois 
at  Starved  Rock  to  the  abandoned  channel  of  Illinois  Eiver. 


southern  margin  of  its  valley,  and  the  Fox  has  extended  its  course  south 
across  the  old  channel  to  join  the  shifted  Illinois  River,  while  the  small 
tributary  has  fallen  heir  to  the  abandoned  channel  of  the  main  stream,  but 


ACTIVE   PHYSIOGRAPHIC  PROCESSES  129 

in  so  doing  has  shifted  its  mouth  from  the  Illinois  to  the  Fox.    The  relation 
is  shown  in  figure  50. 

Between  Starved  Rock  and  South  Ottawa  a  similar  feature  is  shown 
(figure  51).  Three  ravines  are  cut  into  the  southern  bluff  of  Illinois 
Valley.  As  the  first  stream  reaches  the  flat  of  the  Illinois,  it  turns  sharply 
westward  parallel  to  the  river.  It  is  joined  by  the  middle  tributary,  and 
only  after  the  third  stream  is  added  does  the  composite  stream  turn  to  join 
the  Illinois.  The  united  stream  occupies  an  old  channel  of  the  river  that 
enters  the  present  channel  below  the  mouth  of  the  third  ravine.  The 
tributaries,  because  of  their  occupation  of  this  deserted  channel,  now  form 
one  stream,  although  their  development  was  independent  of  each,  other,  and 
their  union  dates  only  from  the  time  of  the  change  in  the  channel  of  the 
Illinois. 

SPECIAL  DEPOSITIONAL  FEATURES 
CONDITIONS    OF    DEPOSITION 

Deposition  takes  place  whenever  the  velocity  of  a  sediment-bearing 
stream  is  sufficiently  retarded.  Such  a  condition  occurs  most  commonly  by 
a  decrease  of  gradient  or  by  a  loss  of  volume  of  water.  When  the  velocity 
of  a  stream  decreases  gradually  downstream,  it  drops  its  load  little  by 
little  and  develops  a  gently  sloping  flood  plain.  When  the  flow  of  a  stream 
is  checked  suddenly,  it  drops  most  of  its  sediment  within  a  very  short 
distance.    There  are  then  formed  deltas,  sand  bars,  and  alluvial  fans. 

DELTAS    AND    SAND    BARS 

The  current  of  a  stream  is  checked  when  it  flows  into  a  body  of  standing 
water,  as  a  lake,  or  when  it  joins  a  stream  more  sluggish  than  itself.  The 
stream  thus  retarded  will  drop  most  of  its  load  promptly  in  a  small  area 
rather  than  distribute  it  slowly  over  a  broad  area,  as  is  the  case  if 
retardation  is  gradual.  In  standing  water  such  deposits  make  a  delta.  At 
present  there  is  no  body  of  standing  water  within  the  region  to  supply  per- 
fect conditions  for  delta  formation.  Illinois  River,  with  its  sluggish  current, 
serves  to  some  extent  as  such  a  body  for  its  more  rapid  tributaries ;  several 
of  them  have  made  large  deposits  of  sand  at  their  mouths.  The  Vermilion 
rivers  and  Spring  Creek,  for  example,  have  formed  large  bars  at  their 
mouths,  and  in  time  of  low  water  these  bars  often  become  serious  impedi- 
ments to  navigation.  Although  not  true  deltas,  their  mode  of  origin  is 
similar,  and  with  a  lesser  current  of  the  Illinois  they  would  have  developed 
into  normal  deltas. 

ALLUVIAL    FANS 

Alluvial  fans  are  fan-shaped  bodies  of  alluvial  material  resting  against 
the  base  of  a  slope.  They  arc  somewhat  similar  to  deltas,  except  that  they 
were  deposited  on  land.     They  are  composed  of  silt,  sand,  or  gravel  which 


130 


UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 


has  been  washed  down  a  slope  by  rivulets  and  deposited  at  its  base.  The 
bottom  of  a  steep  slope  at  the  base  of  which  is  a  flat  plain  is 
especially  favorable  for  the  development  of  alluvial  fans.  The  water  which 
flows  down  the  steep  slope  is  able  to  move  much  sediment,  but  is  unable 
to  carry  it  when  it  spreads  out  over  the  flat  below,  so  the  load  is  dropped 
somewhat  promptly,  though  less  promptly  than  in  standing  water. 
Conditions  favorable  for  the  formation  of  such  fans  are  found  particularly 
on  the  outer  side  of  the  "Great  Bend"  of  Illinois  Valley  below  Depue. 
Here  is  a  great  abundance  of  loose  sand  along  the  side  of  the  valley.  The 
slopes  have  been  made  steep  recently  by  the  undercutting  of  the  river,  and 
a  broad  flood  plain  adjoins  the  bluffs.  Numerous  gullies  have  been  cut  in 
the  sandy  bluffs,  and  their  wash  is  deposited  upon  the  flood  plain  in  well- 
developed  alluvial  fans  of  loose  sand.  This  condition  is  illustrated  in 
figure  52. 


Fig.  52. — Small  alluvial  fan. 


INFLUENCE  OF  MATERIAL  UPON   TOPOGRAPHY 


BED    ROCK 


""■•D 


The  individuality  of  erosion  features,  such  as  hills  or  valleys,  depends 
largely  upon  the  kind  of  material  in  which  they  have  been  formed.  Valleys 
of  similar  age  and  with  streams  of  similar  volume  may  differ  widely  in 
their  topographic  character,  because  cut  in  different  material.  Not  only 
will  valleys  cut  in  bed  rock  and  valleys  cut  in  drift  show  different 
characteristics,  but  valleys  cut  in  different  kinds  of  bed  rock  differ,  as  do 
valleys  cut  in  different  kinds  of  drift. 

The  character  of  the  valleys  cut  in  rock  is  dependent  both  upon  the 
composition  and  the  hardness  of  the  rock  and  upon  its  structure.  Abundant 


ACTIVE    PHYSIOGRAPHIC   PROCESSES 


131 


Fig.  53. — Lower  Falls  in  Deer  Park  Glen;  a  canyon  in  St.  Peter  sandstone   (photo 
by  Rhodes.) 


132  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

illustrations  of  the  varying  resistance  of  bed  rock  and  drift  to  erosion  arc 
furnished  by  the  valleys  of  this  region. 

1.  The  Prairie  du  Chien  limestone  is  extremely  resistant  to  erosive 
processes.  Where  it  outcrops  in  Illinois  Valley,  the  river  has  not  been  able 
to  wear  it  down  to  flood  level  in  all  places  and  numerous  low  knobs  of  it 
are  left  on  the  alluvial  lowland.  In  the  upland  back  of  Pecumsaugan  Creek 
it  outcrops  similarly  in  irregular  elevations  above  the  general  surface  of 
the  prairie.  Valleys  cut  in  the  formation  develop  almost  vertical  cliff 
faces.  The  valley  of  Pecumsaugan  Creek,  cut  in  the  Prairie  du  Chien 
limestone  for  more  than  a  mile  north  of  the  canal,  has  developed  a  gorge 
more  than  80  feet  deep.  The  other  valleys  in  this  limestone  are  short 
ravines,  but  they  are  all  narrow  and  steep  sided.  Where  the  Tomahawk 
and  Little  Vermilion  creeks  cross  this  formation  similar  cliffs  are 
developed. 

2.  In  the  St.  Peter  sandstone  still  more  pronounced  gorges  are 
developed.  Several  of  them  in  the  Starved  Rock  region  are  illustrated  in 
figures  9  and  53.  These  canyons  are  commonly  not  more  than  a  hundred 
feet  wide  at  their  tops,  and  may  be  as  deep  or  even  deeper.  Their  sides 
are  vertical,  and  in  many  places  the  cliffs  overhang.  The  canyons  end 
above  in  blunt  heads,  over  which  water  comes  tumbling  from  the  shallow 
draws  of  the  prairie  above.  Most  of  the  falls  at  the  heads  of  the  canyons 
are  fifty  feet  or  somewhat  less  in  height. 

The  St.  Peter  sandstone  is  a  relatively  soft  formation  and  erodes  very 
readily,  so  that  streams  soon  develop  flats  in  their  valleys.  The  canyon-like 
character  of  the  valleys  in  this  formation  is  due  to  the  presence  of  a  harder 
cap  rock  above  the  body  of  the  St.  Peter.  Most  of  the  formation  consists 
of  slightly  cemented  sand,  in  which  wide,  gently  sloping  valleys  would  be 
readily  formed  .  Its  top,  however,  has  been  cemented  more  firmly  than  the 
rest  of  the  formation.  In  some  places,  as  in  Deer  Park  Glen,  the  sandstone 
is  overlain  by  a  hard  capping  of  Platteville  limestone,  and  in  many  other 
places  by  the  resistant  basal  sandstone  of  the  "Coal  Measures."  Nearly 
everywhere  in  this  region,  one  or  the  other  of  these  hard  beds  caps  the 
formation.  This  cap  rock  weathers  back  more  slowly  than  the  softer 
sandstone  beneath  it.  Since  the  lower  beds  weather  out  more  rapidly  than 
the  capping  bed,  the  sides  are  always  either  vertical,  or  the  cap  rock  over- 
hangs the  lower  slope  of  the  valley.  In  some  places  the  overhang  is  so 
great,  that  the  canyons  appear  bottle-shaped  in  cross-section.  The  rate  of 
weathering  of  the  resistant  cap  controls  largely  the  rate  at  which  the  valley 
widens. 

A  cliff  of  the  St.  Peter  formation  is  shown  in  figure  54.  The  numerous 
cup-like  depressions  in  the  sides  appear  at  first  to  be  the  remnants  of  a 
vertical  series  of  pot-holes ;  but  they  are  mostly  the  result  of  the  differential 
weathering  of  harder  and  softer  beds  of  the  sandstone.     The  depressions 


ACTIVE    PHYSIOGRAPHIC   PROCESSES 


133 


lie  both  in  horizontal  and  vertical  scries.  Their  horizontal  alignment  is 
due  to  the  weathering  out  of  a  softer  bed  between  harder  layers.  Their 
vertical  development  is  generally  along  joint  planes  that  form  lines  of 
weakness,  along  which  weathering  or  erosion  is  most  rapid.  Jointing  has 
also  given  direction  to  some  of  the  canyons  in  the  Starved  Rock  area,  and  at 
the  heads  of  the  canyons  some  of  the  streams  may  be  seen  working  along  a 
joint-plane. 

3.     The  Piatt eville-Galena  limestone  is   unimportant   topographically 
because  of  its  slight  thickness.    Wherever  it  is  sufficiently  thick  to  develop 


Fig.  54. — Characteristic  view  of  sides  of  the  canyons  cut  in  the  St.  Peter  sandstone 
of  Deer  Park  Glen. 


topographic  features,  canyons  similar  to  those  of  the  Prairie  du  Chien  have 
been  formed.    This  is  illustrated  by  the  gorge  on  lower  Covel  Creek. 

4.  The  relief  of  the  Morris  basin  in  which  the  Richmond  limestone 
outcrops,  is  too  slight  to  have  developed  any  characteristic  topographic 
features.  This  limestone  is  rather  resistant,  and  forms  low  bosses  on  the 
floor  of  the  Illinois  at  its  head. 

5.  In  the  "Coal  Measures"  are  developed  erosion  features  of  a  wide 
variety  of  types,  dependent  upon  a  wide  variety  of  formations. 


134  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

In  the  hard  La  Salle  limestone,  on  the  western  flank  of  the  anticline, 
numerous  gorges  are  developed.  The  gorge  of  the  lower  Little  Vermilion, 
at  the  northern  limits  of  the  city  of  La  Salle,  is  in  this  limestone.  Similarly, 
vertical  rock  walls  form  the  sides  of  Big  Vermilion  Valley  up  to  a  point 
above  Bailey's  Falls.  These  cliffs  are  formed  by  a  capping  of  the 
La  Salle  limestone. 

East  of  the  anticline,  valleys  cut  in  the  "Coal  Measures"  have  gentler 
slopes  and  wider  bottoms.  The  strata  are  of  greater  age  in  the  eastern 
region  than  in  the  western.  They  are  composed  chiefly  of  the  clays  and 
shales  of  the  basal  part  of  the  series,  and  limestone  is  mostly  lacking.  These 
formations  erode  readily  and  do  not  long  keep  steep  slopes.  The  valley  of 
the  Fox  is  largely  in  ' '  Coal  Measures ' '  shales  and  has  their  typically  gentle 
slopes.      The    most   resistant   formations    of   the    eastern   region   are   the 


Fig.  55. — Valley  side  in  glacial  till  along  the  Illinois  east  of  Marseilles. 

micaceous    sandstones   which    outcrop    particularly    on    Covel,    Kickapoo, 
Waupecan,  and  Mazon  creeks. 

GLACIAL  MATERIAL 

Valleys  cut  in  drift  are  in  general  longer,  broader,  and  in  some  cases 
deeper  than  those  cut  in  bed  rock.  The  glacial  materials  are  on  the  whole 
more  easily  eroded  than  the  bedded  rocks,  because  they  are  in  general 
uncemented.  Till  is  the  most  resistant  of  the  materials  of  the  drift,  and 
in  many  placs  is  as  resistant  as  are  the  softer  formations  of  the  "Coal 
Measures. ' '  It  has  not  only  a  stiff  clay  matrix  whose  fine  particles  cohere 
tenaciously,  but  is  exceedingly  compact,  due  perhaps  to  the  pressure  of  the 
ice  which  deposited  it.  In  valleys  which  are  being  cut  rapidly  the  till  forms 
steep  slopes,  sometimes  80  to  100  feet  high.     Some  of  the  best  types  of 


ACTIVE    PHYSIOGRAPHIC  PROCESSES 


135 


youthful,  steep,  and  narrow  valleys  of  this  region  are  in  the  till,  especially 
east  of  Marseilles  on  the  two  Kickapoo  creeks  and  north  of  Wedron  on 
Indian  Creek.  The  character  of  the  slopes  of  Illinois  Valley  where  they 
are  composed  of  till,  is  shown  in  figure  55. 

The  firm,  tough  lake  clays  of  the  eastern  region  are  almost  as  resistant 
to  erosion  as  the  till.  The  slopes  along  Armstrong's  or  Hog  Run,  cut  in 
these  bedded  blue  clays,  are  no  less  steep  than  are  those  cut  in  the  till 
farther  up  these  valleys. 

Where  the  material  is  coarser,  however,  the  cohesion  of  the  particles  is 
reduced,  and  they  are  washed  away  more  readily.  The  most  easily  eroded 
material  is  the  stratified  drift.  A  stream  cuts  rapidly  through  beds  of  silt, 
sand,  or  fine  gravel  and  may  reach  grade  while  neighboring  streams  are 
still  flowing  over  rapids  and  falls.     This   is   shown    in    Putnam    County, 


//////  A          **» 

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w 

Fig.  56. — Diagrammatic  cross-section  of  a  ravine  south  of  St.  Bedes  College  show- 
ing the  relation  of  the  new  channel  in  the  soft  drift  to  its  old  abandoned  bowlder-covered 
valley  floor. 


where  Allforks  Creek  has  developed  a  wide,  low  valley  with  a  meandering 
stream,  while  Cedar  Creek  and  the  two  Vermilion  rivers,  streams  of  grater 
size,  are  still  cutting  canyons  in  rock.  Allforks  Creek  meanders  broadly  in 
a  valley  as  much  as  half  a  mile  wide.  The  broad  flat  bed  of  Bureau  Creek, 
within  which  the  stream  wanders  about  widely,  is  another  example  of  the 
ease  with  which  stratified  drift  is  eroded.  The  valleys  of  Negro  and  Spring 
Creeks,  from  both  of  which  much  sand  and  gravel  has  been  removed,  are 
similarly  large.  Unless  steepened  by  recent  undercutting,  valleys  cut  in 
sand  and  gravel  have  gentle  slopes,  as  the  loose,  rounded  material  will  not 
stand  with  steep  faces. 

The  drift  commonly  contains  much  material  too  coarse  for  streams  to 
transport.  With  the  removal  of  the  finer  material,  the  large  bowlders  are 
left  in  the  bed  of  the  stream,  and  in  time  its  channel  may  be  paved  with 
them.  At  the  base  of  most  slopes  cut  in  till  or  gravel,  large  bowlders  are 
found  in  profusion,  and  most  stream  beds  in  the  drift  are  covered  with 


136 


UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 


them.  These  large  stones  are  those  which  have  resisted  wear  most  success- 
fully, such  as  igneous  rocks.  The  paving  of  the  bed  of  a  stream  with  such 
bowlders  checks  its  further  wearing  down.  The  stream  then  erodes  more 
readily  on  the  margins  of  its  channel,  at  the  edge  of  its  bowlder  bed.  At 
the  side  of  the  old  channel  it  may  cut  a  new  one  in  soft  drift,  with  the 
result  that  the  stream  may  abandon  its  old  bowlder-covered  floor.  This 
condition  is  illustrated  in  the  ravine  due  south  of  St.  Bedes  College,  between 
Peru  and  Spring  Valley  (fig.  56).  The  original  bed  of  the  stream  is  covered 
with  bowlders,  and  on  its  margins,  two  new  channels  have  been  cut,  and 
the  old  one  remains  as  a  low  ridge  between  them. 


Fig.  57. — Kesistant  bed   of  limestone  on  Cedar  Creek  between  beds  of 
Some  distance  upstream  this  bed  of  limestone  forms  falls  in  Cedar  Creek. 


^oft  shale. 


DEVELOPMENT    OP    FALLS 

The  development  of  falls  is  caused  by  the  presence  of  a  resistant  bed 
over  an  easily  eroded  bed  in  the  channel  of  an  actively  eroding  stream. 
Figure  57  shows  a  bed  of  limestone  over  soft  shales  on  Cedar  Creek.  This 
limestone  forms  rapids  in  the  creek,  and  before  it  was  worn  back  to  its 
present  position  it  formed  falls  in  the  stream.  The  case  is  similar  to  one 
in  which  overhanging  cliffs  are  developed  along  the  side  of  a  valley.  .The 
softer  underlying  formation  is  eroded  more  rapidly  than  the  harder  cap 
rock.  It  is  worn  back  therefore  until  the  cap  rock  protects  it  from  further 
erosion  (fig.  58).    Eapids  are  formed  first  (A),  and  these  become  steepened 


ACTIVE    PHYSIOGRAPHIC   PROCESSES 


137 


into  falls  (B).  Later,  the  falls  give  way  to  rapids  (C),  and  if  erosion 
continues  until  the  resistant  bed  is  worn  to  the  base-level  of  the  stream 
(D),  even  the  rapids  disappear.  If  the  cap  rock  is  much  more  resistant 
than  the  rock  beneath,  the  weaker  formation  may  weather  out  from  under 
the  cap  rock  until  an  overhang  of  the  latter  results.  This  tends  to  hasten 
the  erosion  of  the  hard  cap,  as  its  overhanging  edge  breaks  off  from  time 
to  time  under  its  own  weight.  In  some  cases  erosion  is  aided  by  jointing, 
which  breaks  up  the  rock  into  blocks  that  are  more  readily  attacked  by  the 
stream.  The  falls  on  Cedar  Creek  are  being  accelerated  in  their  erosion 
by  both  of  the  last-mentioned  conditions. 

Practically  every  canyon  in  the  St.  Peter  sandstone  has  falls  at  its 
head.  The  streams  in  them  are  young  and  have  not  yet  caused  their  falls 
to  recede  more  than  a  few  miles  from  the  river.  Bailey 's  Falls  on  a  tributary 
to  the  Big  Vermilion  is  over  the  La  Salle  limestone  and  is  caused  by  a  shaly 
bed  beneath  the  massive  upper  limestone.  Smaller  falls  are  common  in  the 
"Coal  Measures"  with  their  great  variety  of  formations  of  unequal 
resistance;  those  on  Cedar  Creek  are  an  example.  In  the  cutting  back  of 
falls,  a  gorge,  such  as  those  about  Starved  Rock,  is  left  below. 


~       27 

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Fig.  58. — Diagrammatic  illustration  of  the  relation  of  falls  to  a  hard  stratum  show- 
ing (1)  surface  outline,  (2)  the  surface  material  or  drift  and  shale,  (3)  the  cap  rock, 
and  (4)  the  "Coal  Measures."  The  dotted  lines  represent  the  stream  channel  at  various 
stages,  DD  being  base  level. 

If  the  resistant  bed  is  at  some  distance  below  the  top  of  the  valley,  the 
material  above  it  is  worn  back  more  rapidly  than  the  hard  layer,  and 
leaves  the  latter  projecting  as  a  rock  bench  or  terrace  on  the  slope.  These 
benches  are  common  west  of  La  Salle,  both  along  the  sides  of  the  Illinois  and 
its  tributaries. 

VARIATIONS    IN    TOPOGRAPHY    OF    A    VALLEY 

The  topography  of  the  valleys  of  this  region  is,  in  a  general  way,  the 
result  of  the  erosion  of  materials  of  different  resistance.  Different  parts 
of  the  same  valley  may  be  very  unlike,  because  they  may  be  cut  in  different 
formations. 

Illinois  Valley  shows  striking  changes  in  character  due  to  this  cause. 
Above  Marseilles  the  valley  is  cut  in  drift  where  it  has  gentle  slopes 
generally  used  for  pastures.  Figure  55  illustrates  such  a  slope.  Below 
Marseilles  bed  rock,  chiefly  sandstone  of  "Coal  Measures"  age,  takes  the 
place  of  the  drift.    Here  the  slopes  are  steeper  and  pastures  give  way  to 


138 


UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 


wood  lots.  Below  Ottawa  the  St.  Peter  comes  in  on  the  valley  sides,  and 
bare,  vertical  cliffs  are  developed,  which  furnish  the  picturesque  scenery 
of  the  Starved  Rock  region.  The  Prairie  du  Chien  limestone  below  Utica 
shows  similar  bare  bluffs,  and  in  addition  low  bosses  of  it  make  the  floor 
of  the  valley  uneven.  West  of  La  Salle  beyond  the  outcrop  of  the 
La  Salle  limestone,  the  slopes  are  again  more  gentle.  The  change  of 
character  of  the  floor  of  Illinois  Valley  above  the  mouths  of  the  Vermilion 
rivers  may  have  been  influenced  by  the  outcrop  of  the  Prairie  du  Chien 
formation.  The  alluvial  bottom  below  the  Vermilion  rivers  gives  way  to  an 
irregular,  rocky  floor  above,  practically  at  the  western  limit  of  the 
Prairie  du  Chien  formation.  This  change  may  be  due  to  the  great  resistance 
of  this  limestone  to  erosion,  which  has  retarded  the  erosion  of  the  entire 
valley  above  this  place. 

Au  Sable  Creek,  in  the  northeastern  part  of  the  region,  follows  the 
western  base  of  the  Minooka  ridge.  The  creek  consists  of  pools  of  almost 
stagnant  water,  covered  by  swamp  vegetation  and  alternating  with  stretches 
of  fairly  good  flow  where  the  creek;  flows  on  rock.  This  condition  is  due 
probably  to  the  fact  that  the  post  glacial  creek  has  cut  across  drift-filled 
depressions  between  rock  ridges. 

The  valley  of  Mazon  Creek  in  the  shallow  Morris  basin,  has  sides  which 
are  rarely  more  than  forty  feet  high.  On  lower  Mazon  Creek  is  a  bend 
known  as  the  "Ox-Bow"  (fig.  34).  Below  "B"  the  valley  is  cut  in  soft 
sand.  South  of  the  line  A-B,  the  material  is  bedded  rock.  The  line  A-B 
marks  the  southern  rock  slope  of  the  glacial  Illinois  Valley,  which  the 
Mazon  has  uncovered.  The  development  of  Mazon  Creek  north  of  A  is 
subsequent  to  this  filling.  Above  A,  Mazon  Creek  is  considerably  older,  as 
shown  by  a  filling  of  sand  and  gravel  of  glacial  age.  When  the  Illinois 
re-excavated  its  channel  north  of  its  glacial  bed,  Mazon  Creek  was  forced 
to  extend  its  course  northward  through  the  aggraded  older  channel.  In 
doing  this  it  followed  the  southern  margin  of  the  old  valley  of  the  Illinois 
for  a  short  distance.  Below  the  Ox-Bow,  the  stream  winds  along  with 
sluggish  current  and  broad  meanders;  above,  the  valley  is  cut  in  "Coal 
Measures"  and  generally  shows  steep  sides. 

Saratoga,  Nettle,  and  Waupecan  creeks  and  Bill's  Run  have  shallow 
valleys,  which  were  partly  filled  during  the  deposition  of  the  late  Wiscon- 
sin valley  train  in  Illinois  Valley.  The  headwaters  of  Nettle  Creek  are 
collected  from  the  broad  eastern  flank  of  the  Marseilles  moraine.  The  run- 
off from  the  moraine  follows  several  series  of  glacial  depressions,  and  the 
streams  thus  formed  converge  eastward  to  form  Nettle  Creek;  most  of  the 
headwaters  of  the  streams  which  drain  this  moraine  possess  such  glacial 
depressions,  without  having  done  any  appreciable  work  in  their  enlarge- 
ment. 

Walb ridge's  and  Covel  creeks  similarly  have  ill-defined  shallow  upper 
valleys;  but  their  lower  valleys  are  deep,  stream-cut  channels  which  are 


ACTIVE    PHYSIOGRAPHIC  PROCESSES 


139 


extending  headward  and  cutting  a  bed  in  the  shallow  depression  above. 
Covel  Creek  illustrates  well  the  unequal  resistances  of  materials.  Its  lower 
course  is  cut  in  Platteville  limestone  and  has  cliff  sides ;  above,  in  the  ' '  Coal 
Measures,"  the  slopes  are  gentle. 

Fox  River  is  marginal  to  the  western  base  of  the  Marseilles  moraine. 
The  slopes  of  the  valley  are  on  the  whole  gentle  and  wooded,  or  pastured ; 
the  materials  which  compose  them  are  till  or  "Coal  Measures"  clays.  At 
Wedron,  however,  the  St.  Peter  sandstone  rises  high  above  the  valley,  and 
here  its  sides  become  sheer  cliffs. 

In  the  tributaries  west  of  Ottawa,  the  canyon  type  of  the  St.  Peter 
prevails.    Figure  59  shows  typical  profiles  from  the  valley  of  Clark's  Run. 


Fig.  59. — Diagrammatic  cross-sections  of  different  parts  of  the  valley  of  Clark's 
Run:  a,  valley  cut  in  soft  ''Coal  Measures"  and  till;  b,  valley  cut  in  St.  Peter  sand- 
stone. 


The  valley  above  the  falls  is  cut  in  "Coal  Measures"  and  till,  and  is  broad 
and  flat.    The  falls  mark  the  upper  limit  of  cutting  in  the  St.  Peter. 

At  the  crossing  of  the  Utica-La  Salle  road  on  Pecumsaugan  Creek  falls 
have  been  formed  in  the  Prairie  du  Chien  formation.  Below,  the  stream 
flows  in  a  rock  gorge;  above,  its  valley  is  a  marsh,  grown  up  with  reeds, 
within  which  the  creek  flows  feebly.  The  valley  of  Pecumsaugan  Creek 
is  another  example  of  a  morainic  depression  in  its  upper  course,  and  of  a 
stream-cut  valley  below. 

Little  Vermilion  Valley  crosses  the  La  Salle  limestone  in  its  lower 
course,  and  has  developed  here  a  narrow  gorge,  extending  upstream  from 
the  bluffs  of  the  Illinois  to  the  point  where  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad 
leaves  the  valley.  Above  the  outcrop  of  the  La  Salle  limestone,  the  stream 
lies  in  soft  shales,  and  has  formed  a  broad,  flat  valley.  Above  the  mouth  of 
Tomahawk  Creek,  where  the  stream  crosses  the  St.  Peter  and 
Prairie  du  Chien  formations,  the  valley  again  is  narrowed,  and  its  slopes 
are  vertical  bluffs. 


140  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

Man  as  a  Factor  in  Erosion 

recent  changes 

The  processes  of  erosion  work  slowly,  as  man  counts  time,  and  for 
this  reason  he  has  paid  but  little  attention  to  the  possibilities  of  their 
control,  or  to  the  fact  that  his  activities  influence  these  processes  in  many 
ways.  Savage  man  did  little  to  destroy  the  soil  cover,  or  to  invite  the 
gullying  of  the  surface  in  other  ways.  In  his  time,  the  upland  was  covered 
by  the  thick  sod  which  the  prairie  grass  formed,  and  on  the  slopes  of  the 
valleys  grew  trees  and  brush  which  protected  the  soil  from  wash;  man  was 
an  unimportant  factor  in  erosion.  Early  travelers  have  left  accounts  of  this 
country  before  the  coming  of  the  white  man,  of  thick  prairie  grass  which 


"■h  . 

>'(l\' 

4  s 

'  '  ■     '•■■'' 

Fig.  60. — Destruction  of  soil  on  a  slope  as  the  result  of  denudation  of  Fox  Valley. 

stretched,  an  unbroken  sea  of  waving  blades,  over  the  upland,  interrupted 
here  and  there  by  tongues  of  woodland  along  the  streams,  and  of  streams 
that  flowed  clear  and  pure.  Today  the  scene  is  much  altered.  The  grassy 
prairies  have  been  converted  into  tilled  fields,  and  the  soil  is  bared  to  the 
action  of  wind  and  water.  Much  of  the  timber  has  been  removed  from  the 
valleys ;  gullies  are  cutting  back  into  the  prairies  in  many  places,  and  the 
streams  run  murky  with  their  load  of  sediment  washed  in  from  plowed 
fields  and  denuded  slopes.  The  ways  in  which  man  has  stimulated  erosion 
are  principally : 

EROSION  INCREASED  BY  DEFORESTATION 

Timber  is  confined  to  the  valleys  and,  because  of  its  scarcity,  has  been 
at  a  premium  since  the  settlement  of  the  region.  The  original  small  supply 
was  rapidly  reduced  by  the  increasing  demand.  In  the  cutting  out  of  the 
usable  timber,  the  protecting  cover  of  the  soil  was  destroyed,  and  the  steep 


ACTIVE    PHYSIOGRAPHIC   PROCESKKS 


141 


slopes  of  the  valleys  were  exposed  to  slope  wash.  In  some  places  these 
cut-over  slopes  have  become  covered  with  grass  or  brush,  but  in  many 
places  they  have  been  gashed  by  gullies.  Such  a  denuded  slope,  which  is 
being  ruined  rapidly  by  erosion,  is  shown  in  figure  60.  These  gullies,  once 
started,  work  back  and  may  become  destructive  to  the  fields  on  the  prairie 
beyond  the  valley. 

EROSION  INCREASED  BY  OVER-GRAZING 

Because  of  the  agricultural  value  of  the  prairie  land,  the  farmer  has  in 
many  cases  used  all  of  his  prairie  land  for  cultivation,  and  has  pastured  his 


Fig.  61. — Gravel  fan   (A)  spread  over  field  on  Cedar  Creek. 


cattle  on  the  less  valuable  slopes  of  some  valley.  Wood  lots  and  cut-over 
slopes  are  often  used  for  cattle  pastures.  The  hoofs  of  cattle  have  cut  the 
sod,  and  over-grazing  has  killed  the  grass  in  places,  so  that  the  soil  has 
been  laid  bare,  to  be  washed  by  rains  and  blown  by  winds.  Damage  has 
been  done  especially  in  using  slopes  that  were  too  steep  or  by  pasturing 
too  many  cattle  upon  hillsides.  These  conditions  are  perhaps  worst  in  Fox 
Valley,  and  especially  along  its  eastern  side,  where  gullying  has  impaired 
seriously  the  value  of  slopes  which  have  been  carelessly  used  for  pastures, 
and  which  might  have  been  kept  in  a  productive  state  by  more  restricted 
grazing,  or  by  letting  them  remain  in  timber. 


142  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

EROSION   INCREASED   BY   CULTIVATION    OF   SLOPES 

Where  land  is  valuable,  the  temptation  is  great  to  extend  the 
cultivated  area  to  its  maximum.  Slopes  have  been  tilled  which  are  too 
steep,  and  whose  soil  is  too  readily  washed  to  make  such  cultivation 
advisable.  Particularly  if  the  ground  is  plowed  improperly,  if  the  surface 
is  left  to  cake  and  become  compact,  or  if  the  humus  is  exhausted,  soil  which 
responded  properly  at  first  to  cultivation,  may  wash  and  become  uncon- 
trollable. In  Bureau  County,  many  hillsides  of  fertile  loess  have  been 
farmed  recklessly,  and  in  a  number  of  cases  have  been  gullied  until  they 
are  nearly  worthless. 

RESULTS  OF  SOIL  EROSION 

Whatever  the  cause  of  erosion,  the  results  affect  much  more  than  the 
denuded  slope.  Gullies  work  headward  beyond  the  hillside  on  which  they 
started,  and  attack  the  level  upland  behind.  The  material  which  has  been 
eroded  may  be  dumped  at  the  base  of  the  slope,  and  damage  the  fields  in 
the  valley  below.  Fields  on  valley  bottoms  may  be  overspread  by  wash 
from  the  higher  slopes,  and  be  injured  for  agriculture.  Figure  61  shows 
gravel  which  has  been  washed  down  over  a  field,  and  has  made  it  worthless. 
The  gully  from  which  the  gravel  has  come  was  caused  by  allowing  a  lane 
on  the  hillside  to  wash  until  the  lane  became  a  gully.  Other  results  are 
the  fouling  of  streams  with  sediment,  the  consequent  depreciation  of  their 
value  for  navigation,  water  power,  and  water  supply.  The  deforestation 
of  slopes,  too,  has  increased  the  danger  of  floods,  since  waters  flow  more 
rapidly  over  treeless  slopes  than  through  forests. 

SOILS  MOST  AFFECTED 

A  soil  which  is  highly  resistant  to  erosion  is  a  soil  which  has  sufficient 
porosity  to  absorb  a  large  proportion  of  the  water  that  falls  upon  it,  and 
yet  a  sufficient  cohesion  of  its  particles  to  oppose  the  wear  of  the  water 
that  runs  over  it.  Such  a  soil  is  a  moderately  sandy  loam,  somewhat  more 
porous  than  the  average  soil  of  the  region. 

The  very  porous  soils  derived  from  the  local  stratified  drift  are  too 
loose  to  withstand  erosion  successfully.  The  "high-level"  gravels  are  com- 
monly considerably  eroded.  The  sands  of  the  Hennepin  flat  are  deeply 
trenched  by  gullies.  Beds  of  silt  are  almost  as  easily  eroded.  Figure  62 
shows  a  young  gully  developed  on  the  crest  of  a  ridge  between  the  larger 
gullies  a  and  b.  A  wagon  trail  formerly  led  along  the  ridge  between  the 
two  larger  ravines.  As  the  sod  was  destroyed,  the  loose  silt  which  underlies 
the  ridge  was  readily  eroded. 

The  clay  soils  derived  from  the  till  withstand  erosion  much  better,  but 
because  of  their  compactness  do  not  readily  absorb  the  water  which  falls 
upon  them,  and  as  a  large  proportion  of  the  rainfall  runs  off  over  the 
surface,  they  are  somewhat  subject  to  erosion. 


ACTIVE    PHYSIOGRAPHIC   PROCESSES 


143 


PROPER  USE  OF  STEEP  SLOPES 

The  problem  of  the  best  use  of  the  lands  is  new  to  the  American  farmer, 
accustomed  to  think  of  the  resources  of  this  country  as  inexhaustible.  The 
rapid  taking  up  of  our  remaining  uncultivated  agriculture  lands,  and  the 
increasing  demand  for  farm  products  by  our  growing  industrial  population, 
are  gradually  enforcing  a  more  careful  use  of  the  land.  The  farmer  has 
learned  to  maintain  soil  fertility  by  crop  rotation  and  by  the  use  of 
fertilizers.  He  is  now  learning  to  use  all  his  land  to  the  best  advantage. 
Wherever  he  is  cultivating  slopes,  he  must  learn  to  protect  them  from 
erosion  by  contour  plowing,  by  keeping  the  land  covered  with  some  kind  of 
growth  as  much  of  the  time  as  possible,  by  keeping  the  soil  mellow  with 


Fig.  62. — Gully  formed  in  silt  east  of  Marseilles.  This  gully  was  originally  a 
wagon  road  following  the  crest  of  a  small  ridge  between  the  valleys  a  and  b.  The 
wagon  wheels  destroyed  the  sod  and  started  erosion. 


abundant  humus  and  frequent  cultivation,  and  by  checking  the  growth  of 
gullies  by  filling  them  with  straw  or  brush  or  by  planting  in  them  fast- 
growing  brush.  On  steeper  slopes,  pastures  are  profitable  in  many  cases, 
especially  where  a  spring  furnishes  a  good  supply  of  water.  In  places,  the 
best  use  of  a  slope  consists  in  keeping  it  well  timbered,  or  if  the  timber 
has  been  cut,  in  reforesting  it.  Only  so  can  slope  wash  be  kept  in  check 
on  some  slopes,  and  the  adjacent  upland  fields  be  protected.  The  scant  local 
supply  of  timber  and  the  ready  growth  of  trees  advises  this  course  at  times, 
not  only  as  a  protective  measure,  but  as  a  source  of  profit. 


CHAPTER  VII— SETTLEMENT  AND  DEVELOPMENT  OF  UPPER 

ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

Geographic  Influences 

The  physical  processes  that  determined  the  geologic  structure  and  the 
geography  of  this  region  also  affect  man  at  every  turn  and  are  bound  up 
in  many  ways  with  his  welfare.  They  are  recognized  most  readily  and  are 
of  most  immediate  importance  in  the  geographic  environment  which  they 
have  created  for  him.  All  the  fabric  of  the  history  of  the  region  is  woven 
about  the  warp  of  its  physical  conditions,  which  define  in  a  large  sense 
both  the  past  and  present  of  the  region  and  the  possibilities  of  its  future. 
Infinite  in  their  complexity,  the  most  important  of  them  are:  (1)  char- 
acter of  the  surface  and  its  drainage  lines,  (2)  location  of  the  region  in  the 
heart  of  the  Prairie  States  between  the  Great  Lakes  and  Mississippi  River, 
(3)  relation  of  prairie  to  woodland,  (4)  character  of  the  soil,  (5)  mineral 
resources,  and  (6)  water  power.  All  these  factors  have  a  larger  and  a  more 
restricted  application — in  the  larger  sense,  as  relating  this  region  to  other 
regions ;  in  the  narrower  sense,  as  differentiating  its  various  parts.  Physical 
conditions  outside  this  area  also  have  had  far-reaching  influences  at  vari- 
ous times  on  local  matters. 

Indian  Life 

Although  the  Indian  did  almost  nothing  to  develop  this  region,  and 
except  for  a  few  years  in  the  early  thirties,  was  not  even  an  obstacle  to  its 
settlement,  he  is  worthy  of  attention  because  of  the  interest  that  attaches 
to  him  in  local  legends  and  in  pioneer  history.  Because  he  was  a  savage, 
the  Indian  depended  more  directly  upon  his  natural  environment  than  the 
white  man  who  followed. 

The  first  owners  of  the  valley,  so  far  as  known,  were  of  the  Illinois 
tribe  of  Indians,  who  for  a  time  held  undisputed  sway  over  all  the  territory 
drained  by  the  river  which  bears  their  name.  They  were  prairie  Indians 
and  lived  largely  by  the  chase.  They  are  said  to  have  been  less  susceptible 
to  culture  than  the  Indians  of  the  wooded  areas  and  to  have  known  less 
of  agriculture.1  The  vast  pastures  of  prairie  grass  and  the  wooded  areas 
along  the  valleys  harbored  abundant  animal  life,  on  which  they  drew  for 
food.  The  abundance  of  game  caused  the  Indians  to  live  by  hunting  and 
kept  them  unskilled  in  agriculture.  Their  dependence  on  game  forced  them 
to  wander  widely  on  hunting  trips.      Consequently  they  did  not  build 

1Caton,   J.  D.,  Last,  of  the  Illinois,  pp.   12  and  13,   1876. 

(  144  ) 


SETTLEMENT  AND  DEVELOPMENT  145 

permanent  homes,  and  social  institutions  remained  very  primitive.  More- 
over, the  tough  prairie  sod  did  not  invite  cultivation.  The  Indians  built 
some  "towns"  where  they  gathered  in  the  fall  at  harvest  time  and  left  the 
weaker  members  of  their  tribe  more  or  less  permanently.  Apparently  these 
towns  were  mere  clusters  of  wigwams,  with  a  few  poorly  cultivated  patches 
of  maize,  beans,  and  pumpkins  about  them.  A  town  on  the  site  of  Utica 
is  generally  mentioned  as  a  tribal  rendevous  of  importance.  Early  French 
writers  speak  of  it  as  swarming  with  thousands  of  Indians  in  the  late  fall, 
although  almost  abandoned  during  the  rest  of  the  year.  A  similar,  but 
smaller  "town",  stood  on  the  site  of  Channahon.  The  reason  for  the  loca- 
tion of  these  places  is  unrecorded,  but  both  sites  are  surrounded  by  soils 
well  suited  to  such  methods  of  cultivation  as  the  Indians  knew.  In  con- 
trast to  the  heavy  clay  soil  of  the  prairies,  and  even  to  most  of  the  alluvial 
soils  of  the  valleys,  the  soil  in  these  places  is  sandy  and  light.  It  yielded 
readily  to  the  wTeak  tools  and  intermittent  industry  of  the  Indian  and  grew 
fair  crops  with  little  cultivation.  The  settlement  on  the  site  of  Utica  was 
protected  by  the  French  military  post  across  the  river  at  Starved  Rock, 
where  at  times  the  Illinois  Indians  took  refuge  from  marauding  tribes. 
The  Channahon  settlement  was  located  at  the  confluence  of  three  streams 
which  afforded  a  measure  of  protection  and  served  as  highways. 

The  annals  of  the  Indian  tribes  which  inhabited  successively  Illinois 
Valley  are  a  melancholy  record  of  warfare  and  depredation.  For  years 
the  Illinois  were  subject  to  raids  at  the  hands  of  the  Iroquois  tribes 
of  New  York.  When  strongest  the  Illinois  tribe  retaliated  by  similar  ex- 
peditions, some  of  which  carried  them  into  Mohawk  Valley.  In  1680  the 
Iroquois  came  down  in  force  and  drove  the  native  Indians  from  their  land, 
but  two  years  later  the  Illinois  tribe  re-established  itself  in  Illinois  Valley. 
Much  later  the  Iroquois  drove  out  the  Pottawatomies,  Sacs,  and  Foxes,  from 
their  grounds  in  southern  Michigan  and  adjacent  states.2  These  displaced 
tribes  emigrated  into  Illinois  where  they  naturally  came  into  conflict  with 
the  resident  Illinois  Indians,  and  through  long-continued  war  gradually 
wore  out  the  once-splendid  tribe. 

The  last  line  of  defense  of  the  Illinois  Indians  was  upper  Illinois  Val- 
ley. The  surrounding  prairies  afforded  no  adequate  refuge,  and  for  years 
they  retreated  in  time  of  danger  to  sheltered  places  along  the  bluffs  of  the 
upper  Illinois.  They  are  said  to  have  entrenched  themselves  at  Joliet, 
along  the  Kankakee,  at  Marseilles,  where  the  rapids  made  the  landing  of 
a  hostile  force  difficult,  and  last  of  all  at  Starved  Rock,  impregnable  by 
its  isolation,  and  conquered  only  by  a  greater  foe  than  man.  The  fate  of 
the  Illinois  is  written  in  the  character  of  the  surface  of  their  land.  Their 
territory  was  open  to  attack;  on  all  sides  their  hunting  grounds  were  in 


2Baldwin,    E.,    History   of   La  Salle    County,    pp.    64-66,    1877;     also    Caton,    J.   D.,    The   Last 
of  the  Illinois. 


146  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

dispute  with  neighboring  tribes ;  eastward  the  land  lay  open  for  almost  a 
thousand  miles,  and  down  this  open  stretch  swooped  various  marauding 
tribes.  The  strength  of  the  Illinois  was  broken  permanently  in  the  mem- 
orable massacre  at  Starved  Eock.  Those  who  were  left  drifted  south  into 
oblivion.  After  the  feeble  hold  of  the  Illinois  on  the  upper  valley  had  been 
broken,  came  Pottawatomie,  Sac,  Fox,  Winnebago,  and  Kickapoo,  fugitives 
before  the  westward-pressing  white  men,  sojourners  for  a  day,  who  never 
established  themselves  in  this  region  nor  left  their  stamp  upon  it. 

French  Explorations 

While  the  Illinois  tribe  was  still  in  its  prime,  the  first  white  men  came 
to  the  valley.3  They  were  Frenchmen,  soldiers  eager  to  add  new  lands 
to  the  French  domain,  also  missionary  priests,  and  trappers  and  traders 
known  as  voyageurs  and  coureurs  du  bois  ("wood  runners").  These  three 
classes  of  men  represent  the  great  ends  for  which  the  French  pressed 
westward  into  this  unknown  domain.  (1)  Stories  of  natural  wonders, 
strange  peoples,  and  marvelous  riches  fired  the  imagination  of  Europeans 
during  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries.  The  desire  to  explore  new 
lands  possessed  adventurous  minds  the  world  over.  This  motive  was  strong 
in  all  the  early  expeditions  which  penetrated  the  Mississippi  Basin  from 
the  time  the  first  Spanish  adventurers  wandered  about  the  lower  Mississippi 
Valley.  One  of  the  great  incentives  for  adventurous  exploits  lay  in  the 
search  for  a  western  passage  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  a  search  which  continued 
for  almost  a  century  before  hope  of  its  success  was  abandoned.  (2)  Glit- 
tering schemes  for  the  colonization  of  the  interior,  agricultural  and  others, 
led  provincial  governors,  from  time  to  time,  to  despatch  expeditions  inland 
from  the  northeastern  provinces.  ( 3 )  Almost  always  abreast  of  the  soldier, 
and  sometimes  ahead  of  him,  came  the  zealous  missionary,  friar  of  one 
of  the  numerous  holy  orders  that  proselyted  in  the  rich  field  of  heathendom 
here  opened  to  them.  (4)  The  strongest  motive  of  the  French  in  pene- 
trating the  interior  was  the  profit  to  be  made  from  the  fur  trade.  The 
garrison  here,  as  everywhere  in  the  French  provinces,  also  was  a  trading 
post,  and  soldier,  priest,  and  trader  alike  turned  a  penny  in  bartering  uten- 
sils, arms,  trinkets,  and  often  firewater,  for  pelts. 

The  expansion  of  the  French  into  the  interior  was  very  rapid.  In 
1608  the  first  settlements  were  established  about  Quebec ;  in  1673  the  canoes 
of  Frenchmen  were  already  on  Mississippi  River  more  than  a  thousand 
miles  inland.  While  most  of  the  English  colonists  still  were  confined  to 
the  narrow  coastal  region  of  the  Atlantic  colonies,  Frenchmen  were  build- 
ing stockades  on  the  Mississippi  and  its  tributaries.  The  phenomenal  ex- 
pansion of  a  handful  of  men  over  an  area  a  thousand  miles  wide  in  sixty- 

3For  a  general   discussion  presented  in  masterly  fashion,   see   F.   Parkman:   LaSalle  and  the 
discovery  of  the  Great  West. 


SETTLEMENT  AND  DEVELOPMENT  147 

five  years  is  due  to  several  reasons:  (1)  The  French  entered  the  continent 
by  way  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Great  Lakes.  These  waterways  afforded 
a  relatively  easy  route  into  the  heart  of  the  continent.  From  the  Great 
Lakes  the  French  passed  by  means  of  short  portages  to  tributaries  of  the 
Mississippi,  whose  watersheds  arc  crowded  close  to  the  lakes.  (2)  The 
French  secured  a  footing  in  the  northern  half  of  the  continent,  which  was 
richest  in  valuable  fur-bearing  animals.  In  the  fur  trade  a  few  men  could 
work  a  large  area,  and  a  small  European  population  was  in  some  ways  an 
advantage  rather  than  a  handicap,  while  the  Indian  hunter  remained  an 
invaluable  asset  to  the  prosperity  of  the  business.  (3)  The  poverty  of  the 
soil  in  much  of  eastern  Canada  discouraged  agriculture  and  dense  settle- 
ment, and  many  of  the  settlers  either  turned  to  fur  trading  or  sought  farms 
farther  west. 

Upon  these  general  conditions  are  based  the  operations  of  the  French 
in  upper  Illinois  Valley.  The  first  Frenchmen  known  certainly  to  have 
entered  this  region  are  Marquette  and  Joliet,  who  on  their  return  from 
the  exploration  of  the  Mississippi  in  1673,  chose  to  breast  the  gentle  cur- 
rent of  the  Illinois  rather  than  the  swift  Wisconsin  River.  Six  years  later 
Robert  Cavelier,  Sieur  de  la  Salle,  crossed  from  Lake  Michigan  to  Illinois 
River  for  the  purpose  of  founding  a  colony.  "It  was  the  knowledge  of 
these  things  joined  to  the  poverty  of  Canada,  its  dense  forests,  its  barren 
soil,  its  harsh  climate,  and  the  snow  that  covers  the  ground  for  half  the 
year,  that  led  the  Sieur  de  la  Salle  to  undertake  the  planting  of  colonies 
in  these  beautiful  countries  of  the  West."4  His  first  attempt  resulted  in 
the  building  of  Fort  Creve  Coeur  on  Lake  Peoria.  In  1682  he  led  another 
expedition  southward,  completed  the  exploration  of  the  Mississippi  to  its 
mouth,  and  took  possession  of  the  interior  for  the  king  of  France,  naming 
it  Louisiana. 

In  his  trips  along  Illinois  Valley,  La  Salle  came  to  recognize  the  ad- 
vantages of  Starved  Rock,  especially  its  capacity  for  defense  and  its  control 
of  one  of  the  largest  Indian  villages  in  the  north.  Accordingly  toward  the 
close  of  1682,  he  despatched  his  lieutenant,  Tonty,  with  a  troop  of  men  to 
Starved  Rock  to  build  a  fort.  La  Salle  soon  joined  them  at  the  task,  which 
they  completed  in  March,  1683.    He  named  the  fort  St.  Louis  des  Illinois. 

Starved  Rock,  known  to  the  French  as  Le  Rocher,  presents  an  ad- 
mirable site  for  a  fortification.  At  its  northern  base  flows  Illinois  River, 
above  which  the  sheer  rock  walls  rise  130  feet.  Its  landward  side  is 
almost  inaccessible  except  at  one  place,  which  affords  a  convenient,  yet 
easily  defended  approach  to  the  natural  fortress.  A  level  area  of  less  than 
an  acre  provided  room  on  top  for  the  French  to  build  a  small  stockade. 
As  long  as  food  lasted,  the  fort  was  impregnable.  It  controlled  Illinois 
River  and  was  accessible  by  this  water  route  from  the  other  French  posts. 

4Memorial   of  La  Salle  to  the  minister  Colbert;    quoted  from   Francis   Parkman,    La  Salle  and 
the  discovery  of  the  Great  West,  p.  Ill,   1869. 


148  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

La  Salle  had  planned  to  establish  here  a  great  French  colony  and  to 
develop  the  country  round  about.  In  1687  Joutel  writes  enthusiastically  of 
the  beauty  and  fertility  of  the  country  and  of  its  mineral  wealth.5  In  his 
journal,  he  gives  what  is  probably  the  first  account  of  the  mineral  resources 
of  the  region,  in  a  statement  concerning  its  limestone,  its  fire  clay,  and 
particularly  its  coal.  He  says,  ' '  On  the  sides  of  the  hills  is  found  a  gravelly 
sort  of  stone,  very  fit  to  make  lime  for  building.  There  are  also  many  clay 
pits,  fit  for  making  earthenware,  bricks  and  tiles  and  along  the  river  are 
coal  pits,  the  coal  whereof  has  been  try'd  and  found  very  good."  To  the 
eyes  of  the  Frenchman,  accustomed  to  the  scant  vegetation  and  harsh  cli- 
mate of  northeastern  Canada,  this  region  presented  the  attractiveness  of 
Arcadian  plenty  in  its  fertile  soils,  its  moderate  climate,  its  luxuriant  vege- 
tation, and  its  abundant  game.  The  agricultural  colony  planned  was  never 
established,  however.  For  a  time  the  post  throve  by  its  trade  with  the 
Indians,  who  nocked  to  the  settlement  across  the  river  for  the  protection 
the  guns  of  the  French  afforded.  In  1687,  however,  La  Salle  met  his  fate 
on  another  colonizing  venture,  and  Tonty  abandoned  the  fort  a  few  years 
later.  It  was  occupied  occasionally  thereafter  by  French  traders;  but  the 
Indians  left  unprotected  dispersed  gradually,  and  the  fort  fell  into  ruins. 
With  the  passing  of  Fort  St.  Louis  ended  one  of  the  most  wisely  planned 
of  French  colonial  enterprises,  and  one  which  promised  excellent  results. 
It  is  impossible  to  say  for  how  much  the  energy  and  abilities  of  La  Salle 
would  have  counted  in  the  success  of  the  venture,  had  he  lived.  Not  long 
after,  however,  the  entire  scheme  of  French  colonization  in  America  col- 
lapsed. It  was  from  the  start  an  unstable  structure,  based  on  the  strength 
of  a  handful  of  soldiers  and  traders,  for  the  most  part,  without  the  firm 
foundation  of  agricultural  colonization.  The  French  regime  left  scarcely  a 
trace  in  Illinois  Valley.  The  region  lapsed  into  savagery,  and  its  resources 
remained  undeveloped  and  almost  unknown  to  white  men  for  a  century 
and  a  half. 

Westward  Movement  of  Population 

While0  the  French  were  building  Fort  St.  Louis  on  the  Illinois,  the 
English  colonists  were  engaged  in  settling  the  Piedmont  slopes  at  the  sea- 
ward base  of  the  Appalachian  Mountains,  their  frontier  settlements  only  a 
few  score  miles  from  tide-water.  When,  eighty  years  later,  the  French 
gave  up  their  holdings  on  the  North  American  continent,  the  English  colon- 
ists had  not  yet  passed  the  Appalachian  barrier,  except  at  the  south  where 
a  thin  stream  of  settlement  had  penetrated  the  mountain  passes  and  spread 
into  the  upper  valleys  of  streams  that  go  down  to  the  Mississippi.    For  the 


5Journal  of  the  last  voyage,   London    (1714),   pp.    171-172. 

6Pooley,  Settlement  of  Illinois;  and  Barrows,  H.  H.,  Illinois  Geol.  Survey  Bull.  15,  give 
a  good  general  account  of  this  westward  movement.  In  addition  La  Salle  County  possesses  a 
local  history  of  unusual  merit  in  Baldwin's  volume  cited  below. 


SETTLEMENT  AND  DEVELOPMENT  149 

English- American  colonist  no  chain  of  lakes  and  rivers  pointed  an  easy 
way  inland,  and  the  ridges  of  the  Appalachians  barred  the  way  westward 
until  the  Atlantic  colonies  could  no  longer  support  their  accumulated  popu- 
lation. From  this  firm  agricultural  base,  however,  expansion  once  begun 
was  irresistible. 

Pioneers  from  South 

Most  of  the  pioneers  who  blazed  the  western  trails  were  from  the  south- 
ern seaboard  states,  and  the  first  wave  of  settlers  that  overspread  the  Mis- 
sissippi basin,  except  its  extreme  northern  part,  was  from  the  South.  The 
northeastern  states  were  engaged  largely  in  commerce  and  navigation  and 
developed  manufacturing  interests  at  an  early  date.  In  these  various  pur- 
suits that  part  of  their  population  which  could  not  engage  in  agriculture 
found  the  means  of  a  sufficient  livelihood.  The  South  on  the  other  hand, 
enjoyed  no  such  variety  of  occupation  but  devoted  itself  almost  exclusively 
to  agriculture.  Hence  it  was  unable  to  support  as  dense  a  population  as 
the  North  and  became  overpopulated  much  earlier.  The  injury  to  the  soil 
in  many  places  by  the  exclusive  cultivation  of  tobacco  and  the  discouraging 
effect  of  slave  labor  upon  free  labor  also  stimulated  emigration  from  the 
South  to  the  new  western  lands.  Likewise  at  the  close  of  the  eighteenth 
century  the  obstacles  to  expansion  in  the  South  were  not  so  great  as  in  the 
North.  The  North  had  only  one  highway  to  the  west,  the  Hudson-Mohawk 
depression.  This  way,  however,  remained  closed  until  near  the  end  of  the 
eighteenth  century  because  the  Iroquois  Indians  held  its  western  part. 

A  series  of  gaps  opened  up  passable,  though  devious,  routes  westward 
from  southern  Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  and  the  Carolinas,and  through  these 
poured  the  emigrants.  By  1790  a  considerable  number  of  emigrants  from 
the  southern  states  had  formed  settlements  in  the  Blue  Grass  region  of 
Kentucky,  in  the  Nashville  area,  and  in  Western  Pennsylvania.7  Several 
routes  from  the  Atlantic  seaboard  focused  upon  Pittsburgh  on  Ohio  River 
and  were  used  increasingly  as  means  of  river  transportation  on  the  Ohio 
were  developed  and  as  the  danger  from  Indians  in  Ohio  Valley  grew  less. 
By  keel-boat,  barge,  and  raft  the  pioneers  floated  down  the  Ohio  in  large 
numbers,  at  first  to  settle  south  of  the  river,  but  gradually  also  to  spread 
northward  into  Northwest  Territory,  under  which  name  all  the  lands  north 
of  the  Ohio  River  were  at  one  time  organized.  In  1802  Ohio  was  admitted 
to  statehood,  with  a  zone  of  settlement  confined  almost  entirely  to  the  Ohio 
basin.  By  1810  the  lower  Wabash  Valley  had  been  occupied,  and  settle- 
ments sprang  up  along  the  Ohio  to  its  mouth,  joining  the  old  French  set- 
tlements in  the  American  Bottoms  near  St.  Louis  to  the  settled  area  on  the 
Ohio  and  in  Kentucky. 

7The  best  graphic  representation  of  the  westward  movement  of  population  discussed  here 
and  on  subsequent  pages  is  given  by  the  maps  of  the  Statistical  Atlas  of  the  Census  of  the  United 
States.  These  show  the  areal  distribution  of  population  for  each  ten-year  period  from  1790  to 
date.  Parts  of  some  of  these  maps  are  reproduced  by  Semple,  American  history  and  its  geo- 
graphic conditions;  and  by  Barrows,  H.  H.,  Illinois  Geol.  Survey  Bull.  15,  Geography  of  the 
middle  Illinois  Valley. 


150  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

The  wave  of  emigrants  first  overspread  southern  Illinois  and  then 
moved  northward  up  the  valleys  of  the  Mississippi  and  its  tributary 
streams.  By  1818  it  had  reached  the  mouth  of  Illinois  River  and  brought 
settlers  enough  to  the  territory  to  secure  statehood  for  Illinois.  The  move- 
ment from  the  South  continued  actively  to  about  1830,  aided  greatly  by 
the  development  of  steamboat  navigation.8  By  that  time  Illinois  Valley 
was  fairly  well  settled  as  far  north  as  the  Sangamon  country,  and  a  few 
settlers  had  found  their  way  even  into  the  upper  Illinois  Valley.9  The  first 
cabin  in  Bureau  County  was  built  in  1828  "by  a  spring  near  a  small 
branch,"  a  typical  site  for  the  southern  settler.10  These  settlers  were 
woodsmen  who  knew  not  the  prairie  but  sought  out  the  belts  of  timber 
along  the  valleys.  In  1829  a  Pennsylvanian  built  his  home  in  Putnam 
County,11  and  in  the  early  thirties  a  dozen  families  were  reported  within 
the  limits  of  the  county.12  In  La  Salle  County  a  number  of  settlers  were 
established  in  the  late  twenties,  several  families  on  the  bluff  south  of  Ottawa, 
one  settler  at  Bailey's  Grove  (1825),  and  one  each  in  Dayton  and  Rutland 
townships  (1829).  In  1830  more  came,  and  in  that  year  the  first  election 
in  the  upper  valley  was  held  at  Green's  (now  Dayton,  La  Salle  County)  in 
the  Fox  River  precinct  of  what  was  then  Peoria  County.  At  the  beginning 
of  the  Black  Hawk  War  fifty  persons  were  reported  on  the  lower  Fox  and 
about  Ottawa,  four  or  five  families  on  Indian  Creek,  an  equal  number 
about  La  Salle  and  at  Bailey 's  Grove,  and  about  three  in  Vermilion  and 
in  Deer  Park  Townships.13     There  were  only  two  families  in   Grundy 


8An  interesting  picture  of  the  transportation  conditions  of  the  time  is  given  by  A.  D.  Jones 
in  "Illinois  and  the  West."  (Boston  1838:  pp.  30-36.)  (1)  Steamboats:  "St.  Louis  is  the 
great  starting  point  of  the  West.  Hither  from  every  quarter  of  the  East  and  South,  travelers 
and  immigrants  flock  in  uncounted  numbers.  Every  hour  of  every  day  they  are  disembogued  (sic) 
upon  the  beautiful  levees  of  this  city  in  scores  on  scores,  seeking  pleasure  and  a  home  in  this 
wondrous  world  just  opening  to  them.  From  hence,  every  hour  of  every  day  witnesseth  their 
departure,  into  the  interior  of  Missouri,  up  the  Mississippi,  Missouri  or  Illinois  rivers.  *  *  *  * 
An  eastern  man  can  have  no  idea  of  the  tide  of  travel  on  these  mighty  waters." 

(2)  Wagons:  Hosts  of  farmers  with  made  their  way  across  the  country  in  caravans  of 
prairie  schooners,  and  accompanied  by  their  live  stock.  (3)  Raft  and  flat-boat:  These  sail  down 
the  current  to  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  and  there  they  are  broken  up,  put  on  board  steamboats  and 
taken  to  St.  Louis,  from  where  their  contents  are  distributed  over  all  the  country,  and  the  peo- 
ple  thereof   seek   their  destination." 

"Ford,  H.  A.,  History  of  Illinois,  pp.  102-103:  "The  population  of  the  State  had  in- 
creased by  the  year  1830  to  157,447;  it  had  spread  north  from  Alton  as  far  as  Peoria,  prin- 
cipally on  the  rivers  and  creeks;  and  in  such  places  there  were  settlers  sparsely  scattered  along 
the  margin  of  the  Mississippi  River  to  Galena,  sometimes  at  the  distance  of  a  hundred  miles 
apart ;  also  on  the  Illinois  to  Chicago,  with  long  intervals  of  wilderness ;  and  a  few  sparse  set- 
tlements were  scattered  about  all  over  the  southern  part  of  the  military  tract.  The  country  on 
the  Sangamon  River  and  its  tributaries  had  been  settled,  and  also  the  interior  of  the  south; 
leaving  a  large  wilderness  tract  yet  to  be  peopled  between  Galena  and  Chicago;  the  whole  extent 
of  the  Rock  River  and  the  Fox  River  countries,  and  nearly  all  the  lands  in  the  counties,  *  *  *  * 
comprising  (the  remaining)  one-third  of  the  territory  of  the  State.  As  yet  but  few  settlements 
had  been  made  anywhere  in  the  open  wide  prairies,  but  were  confined  to  the  margins  of  the 
timber  in  the  vicinity  of  rivers  and  streams." 

10Matson,  Nehemiah,  History  of  Bureau  County,  p.  87,  1867.  In  "Tax-payers  and  voters 
of  Bureau  County"  the  following  population  growth  for  the  county  is  recorded:  1828,  5  families; 
1830,  9  families;  1831,  16  families;  first  election,  19  votes  cast  (p.  90);  1832,  31;  1833,  28 
(due  to  the  Black  Hawk  uprising). 

"Ford,  H.   A.,   History  of  Putnam   County,  p,   85,    1860. 

^'Ellsworth,    S.,  The  olden  time    (in  Putnam  and  Marshall   counties),  p.    159. 

13Baldwin,   E.,   History  of  La  Salle  County,   p.   88,    1877. 


SETTLEMENT  AND  DEVELOPMENT  151 

County  at  this  time  (1832) ,14  and  only  a  few  in  Will  County,  principally 
about  Channahon.  In  1832  the  Sacs  took  to  the  warpath,  and  many  set- 
tlers left.  When  peace  was  restored,  southern  emigration  was  deflected  to 
the  southwest  by  the  flood  of  northern  emigrants  which  spread  over  this 
region.  Although  the  southern  woodsman  was  the  pioneer  in  this  region, 
his  influence  soon  was  overwhelmed  by  the  host  of  northern  emigrants. 

Control  of  Region  by  Northern  Settlers 

In  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century  the  attention  of  the  North- 
east began  to  turn  to  the  possibilities  of  the  interior  states.  Overpopulation 
made  itself  felt  gradually  in  the  industrial  and  commercial  districts  of  the 
North ;  the  War  of  1812  had  crippled  our  commerce  considerably ;  a  series 
of  poor  years  in  New  England  caused  the  farmers  of  that  region  to  lend 
willing  ears  to  the  tales  of  the  rich  western  country.  Moreover,  the  Indian 
tribes  had  been  removed  from  Mohawk  Valley,  and  the  way  to  the  West 
lay  open.  By  1810  western  New  York  was  settled,  although  not  densely 
peopled.  By  1820  a  fringe  of  population  encircled  Lake  Erie.  In  1825 
the  Erie  Canal  was  completed,  providing,  together  with  the  Hudson  River 
and  Great  Lakes,  a  cheap  water  route  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Middle  West. 
Upon  this  northern  route  was  exerted  also  the  greatest  pressure  of  popula- 
tion from  the  densely  settled  states  of  the  Northeast.  It  is  not  surprising 
therefore  that  the  Erie  Canal  drained  off  the  surplus  population  with  un- 
precedented rapidity.  Settlements  spread  south  rapidly  from  Lake  Erie 
to  join  the  older  Southern  settlements  of  Ohio  and  Indiana.  For  a  brief 
period  the  peninsula  of  Michigan  held  settlers  back  from  the  Illinois  terri- 
tory. Only  a  few  had  the  hardihood  to  carry  their  goods  across  from  Mau- 
mee  Bay  or  Detroit  into  northern  Illinois.  By  1832,  however,  steamboats 
were  carrying  passengers  to  the  ports  of  Lake  Michigan ;  and  in  that  year 
emigration  by  lake  to  Illinois  began  in  full  force.1 5 

A  few  Southern  settlers  still  came  into  upper  Illinois  Valley  in  the 
thirties.  After  1831  they  were  brought  by  steamers  that  plied  the  Illinois 
as  far  as  Ottawa.  There  was  but  a  handful  of  these  Southerners,  however, 
and  they  were  lost  in  the  mass  of  Northern  emigrants  who  came  at  this  time 
and  almost  from  the  start  dominated  the  region  and  fixed  upon  it  the  stamp 
of  northern  institutions  in  church  and  social  life  as  well  as  in  government. 
The  proportion  of  Northern  to  Southern  emigrants  is  shown  by  the  roll  of 
old  settlers  of  La  Salle  County,  compiled  in  1877.10  There  were  in  the 
county  at  that  time  80  settlers  from  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  58  from 
New  England,  59  from  Ohio,  31  from  Pennsylvania,  and  21  from  the  South. 

"Armstrong,  Perry,  Address  Old  Settlers'  Association,  July  4,   1876,   Morris. 
15La  Salle   County  directory,   1858,   Ottawa,   Introduction. 
16Baldwin,  E.,  History  of  La  Salle  County,   1877. 


152  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

The  seven  eastern  townships  of  Bureau  County  had  655  settlers  from  the 
Northern  states  and  only  54  from  the  South.1 7 

For  several  years  preceding  1832  upper  Illinois  Valley  received  occa- 
sional settlers  from  the  East.  These  came  most  of  the  way  by  wagon  from 
Toledo  or  Detroit,  or  from  the  settlements  of  central  and  southern  Ohio. 
It  was  thus  that  some  of  the  first  settlers  came  to  Ottawa  and  to  Dayton 
Township  in  1829  ;1S  that  a  group  of  colonists  from  Ohio,  Pennsylvania,  and 
New  England  reached  Putnam  County  in  1829  to  1830,  forming  the  Union 
Grove  settlement;19  and  that  the  Hampshire  colony  from  Northampton, 
Massachusetts,  came  to  Princeton  in  1831. 20 

The  development  of  steamboating  on  the  Great  Lakes,  more  than  any 
other  factor,  facilitated  the  settlement  of  northern  Illinois.  The  difficulties 
of  transportation  which  previously  had  kept  many  emigrants  from  push- 
ing westward  to  Illinois  were  removed  as  steamboats  established  routes  to 
Chicago.  For  several  years  after  steamboats  appeared  on  Lake  Michigan, 
however,  they  could  not  accommodate  the  crowds  of  emigrants,  and  even 
in  the  late  thirties  the  overland  route  still  was  used.21  In  1833  the  lake 
steamers  carried  more  than  43,000  emigrants  west  from  Buffalo22  and  in 
1839  a  regular  line  of  steamboats  was  established.  In  the  summer  of  1835, 
1,200  persons  are  said  to  have  left  Buffalo  daily  for  the  West,23  and  in  1839 
a  regular  line  of  steamboats  was  established  which  plied  between  Buffalo 
and  Chicago.  The  cost  of  transportation  was  cut  from  year  to  year,  and 
by  1840  the  fare  from  Buffalo  to  Chicago  had  fallen  to  $20.  This  rate  was 
reduced  to  $10  in  1850.  In  1852  the  trip  was  made  in  from  four  to  six 
days  at  a  cost  of  $4  to  $8.24 

One  of  the  first  regions  west  of  Lake  Michigan  to  be  settled  by  North- 
ern emigrants  was  Illinois  Valley.  The  sandy  plains  about  Chicago  re- 
pelled the  settler.  Outside  the  valleys  of  the  Illinois  and  its  tributaries, 
most  of  northeastern  Illinois  was  prairie,  at  first  shunned  by  the  settlers. 
The  first  settlements  by  Northern  emigrants  were  in  the  timbered  belts 
along  the  valleys,  in  sites  corresponding  to  those  of  the  Southern  woods- 


17Summarized  from  a  list  of  tax-payers  of  Bureau  County  in  "Voters  and  tax-payers  of 
Bureau  County." 

18Keyes,  Directory  of  La  Salle  County;  and  Baldwin,  E.,  History  of  La  Salle  County,  re- 
late that  in  1829,  several  settlers  came  from  Licking  County,  Ohio,  with  four  yokes  of  ox  teams 
hitched  to  their  wagons.    They  were  45  days  on  the  road,  often  making  less  than  ten  miles  per  day. 

19Ford,  H.  A.,  History  of  Putnam  County,  p.   90,    1860. 

20Matson,   Nehemiah,   Reminiscences  of  Bureau  County,   p.   261. 

^Baldwin,  E.,  History  of  La  Salle  County,  p.  121,  1877.  Baldwin  left  Connecticut  in  1835, 
went  by  steamboat  to  Albany,  thence  by  rail  to  Schenectady,  and  from  Schenectady  by  canal- 
boat  to  Buffalo.  A  steamer  took  him  from  Buffalo  to  Detroit,  and  from  there  he  followed  the 
territorial  road  to  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Joseph  River.  A  lumber  schooner  afforded  transportation 
to  Chicago.  The  stage  line  to  Ottawa  was  engaged  for  so  many  days  ahead  that  he  left  Chicago 
on  foot  for  La  Salle  County. 

T2Poo\ey,  W.  V.,   Settlement  of  Illinois  from  1830   to   1850,  p.   359,    1908. 

^Idem,    p.    360. 

24Curtiss,   D.   S.,  Western  portraiture,  p.   303,   1852. 


SETTLEMENT  AND  DEVELOPMENT  153 

men  before  them.  In  Putnam  County,  Ox  Bow  Prairie  and  Union  Grove 
were  settled  in  1831,  and  a  settlement  was  made  at  Granville  in  1834.  The 
settlement  of  Bureau  County  had  been  retarded  by  Indian  raids  during 
the  Blaek  Hawk  War,  and  its  population  did  not  grow  much  until  after 
L834.  In  1836  alone,  however,  the  population  of  the  county  more  than 
doubled,  for  during  the  preceding  summer  the  Indian  land  of  the  northern 
part  of  the  county  had  been  thrown  open  to  settlement.  The  first  northern 
settler  in  La  Salle  County  located  near  Ottawa.  In  1835  the  Rockwell  colony 
was  established  near  La  Salle  by  settlers  from  Norwich,  Connecticut,  but 
was  soon  broken  up  by  sickness.  As  in  Bureau  County,  the  year  1836 
brought  the  largest  number  of  emigrants  to  La  Salle  County  ;25  at  this  time 
the  towns  of  Dayton,  Ottawa  and  Marseilles  were  laid  out.  Grundy  County, 
consisting  mostly  of  prairie,  was  settled  later,  the  earliest  settlers  locating 
probably  on  the  site  of  Morris,  in  1834.2G  Channahon  in  Will  County,  was 
settled  in  1833,  and  received  a  large  addition  from  New  York  in  1834. 

From  the  headwaters  of  the  Illinois  the  wave  of  northern  emigration 
spread  south  and  west  and  mingled  with  the  earlier  Southern  settlers  who 
had  pushed  up  lower  Illinois  Valley  and  its  tributaries.  By  1840,  settle- 
ments extended  from  Chicago  to  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois.  By  1850,  set- 
tlements had  spread  out  over  all  the  smaller  prairies. 

Conditions  of  Pioneer  Life 
problem  of  the  prairies 

The  newly  arrived  emigrant  found  himself  in  a  region  to  which  his  old 
home  offered  few  parallels.  In  spite  of  the  voluminous  advice  of  guide 
books  for  emigrants,  he  was  a  stranger  in  a  strange  land.  One  of  the  great 
problems  which  confronted  the  settler  from  the  wooded  hills  of  New  Eng- 
land was  the  almost  level  and  nearly  treeless  prairie,  which  covered  much 
of  the  State. 

The  prairies  of  Illinois  are  essentially  the  uneroded,  drift-covered  up- 
land, and  the  wooded  lands  are  chiefly  narrow  belts,  marginal  to  the  val- 
leys of  the  streams.  At  the  time  of  settlement,  the  woods  and  the  prairies 
were  distributed  as  follows:27  (1)  Southern  Illinois  was  chiefly  woodland, 
with  small  detached  prairies  in  the  interstream  areas.  (2)  South  and  west 
of  a  line  from  Rock  Island  to  Peoria,  and  thence  to  Champaign,  mixed 
woodland  and  prairie  prevailed,  the  proportion  of  prairie  to  woodland  in- 
creasing away  from  Mississippi  Valley.  (3)  North  and  east  of  this  line  the 
land  was  mostly  prairie.    East-central  and  northern  Illinois  were  covered 

^Kett,  Past  and  present  of  La  Salle  County,  p.  194. 

2{iArmstrong,   Address   at   Old   Settlers'    Reunion,    Morris,    1876. 

27See  map  in  Gerhard,   Illinois  as  it  is,  p.   216,   reproduced  also   as  figure  35  in   Bulletin   15, 
111.  Geol.  Survey. 


154  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

by  a  younger  till  sheet  than  the  country  to  the  west  and  south,  and  hence 
the  northeastern  part  of  the  State  is  less  dissected  by  streams  and  also  has 
less  timber.  The  belt  of  woodland  along  Illinois  Valley  divides  this  region 
into  two  parts,  the  eastern  of  which  was  known  as  the  Grand  Prairie. 
(4)  The  extreme  northwestern  part  of  the  State,  which  remained  un glaci- 
ated, was  a  wooded  area. 

The  counties  of  upper  Illinois  Valley  belong  to  the  third  of  the  divi- 
sions mentioned,  in  which  the  valleys  of  the  Illinois  and  its  tributaries 
formed  the  largest  timbered  area.  The  pioneer  in  this  region  had  the  choice 
of  homesteading  in  the  timber,  or  at  its  margin,  or  out  on  the  open  prairie. 
During  the  first  years,  homesteads  were  taken  up  in  the  timber  or  along  its 
edge;  the  open  prairie  was  avoided,  and  many  thought  it  must  always  re- 
main waste  land.  In  1821  a  man  sent  to  explore  upper  Illinois  Valley  for 
a  colonization  site  reported  that  he  had  found  there  no  site  suited  for  such 
a  purpose.28  Even  in  1834  a  traveler  wrote  of  the  desolation  of  these 
plains.29  Some  of  the  objections  to  the  prairie  were  based  on  superstitions 
that  were  soon  dispelled,  others  were  due  actually  to  adverse  conditions. 
Some  of  them  were:  (1)  One  of  the  early  superstitions  held  that  the 
prairie  was  a  desert,  unable  to  support  any  vegetation  other  than  native 
grasses.  The  absence  of  timber  was  considered  an  evidence  of  the  poverty 
of  the  land.  This  idea  was  expressed  by  Monroe  in  a  letter  to  Jefferson  :30 
"A  great  part  of  the  territory  is  miserably  poor,  especially  that  near  Lake 
Michigan  and  Erie,  and  that  upon  the  Mississippi  and  Illinois  consists  of 
extensive  plains  which  have  not  had  from  appearances,  and  will  not  have, 
a  single  bush  upon  them  for  ages.  The  districts  therefore  within  which 
these  fall  will  perhaps  never  contain  a  sufficient  number  of  inhabitants  to 
entitle  them  to  membership  in  the  Confederacy."  This  notion  soon  was 
disproved,  as  the  settlers  became  acquainted  with  the  rich  black  soil  and  the 
luxuriance  of  the  grassy  growth  upon  it.  (2)  Another  prejudice,  less 
readily  discredited,  pictures  the  winter  climate  of  the  prairies  as  too  severe 
for  human  habitation.  "Wonderful  tales  of  the  bitter  western  winters  cir- 
culated through  the  country  for  years.  In  Hoffman's  "A  winter  in  the 
West,"  are  painted  doleful  pictures  of  the  winter  climate,  and  emphasis 
is  placed  on  the  prodigious  effect  of  the  freezing  winds  from  the  Rocky 
Mountains  which  "Do  sorely  ruffle;  for  many  a  mile  about,  there's  scarce 
a  bush."  "The  general  impression  was  that  only  the  timber  belts  would 
ever  be  inhabited.  The  prairie,  swept  by  the  fires  of  summer  and  the 
piercing  blasts  of  winter,  seemed  little  better  than  a  desert,  and  for  several 
years  there  was  not  a  cabin  in  Grundy  County,  built  more  than  100  yards 


a8Baldwin,   E.,   History   of  La  Salle    County,   Narrative   of  Hodgson's   exploration,   pp.    76-78, 
1877. 

29Hoffman,    C.   F.,    A  winter  in  the  West,    Letter   18. 

30Writings,  vol.  1,  p.  117. 


SETTLEMENT  AND  DEVELOPMENT  155 

from  the  timber."31  The  belief  that  the  prairie  was  treeless  because  of  the 
severity  of  the  winter  remained  prevalent  for  some  time.  (3)  The  tall 
grasses  of  the  prairie  were  highly  inflammable  when  dry,  and  the  danger 
from  fires  was  great  to  the  first  prairie  homesteads.  A  prairie  fire,  once 
started,  might  sweep  over  miles  of  the  nearly  flat  surface  faster  than  man 
could  ride.  In  numerous  instances  houses  and  crops  were  destroyed  by 
such  fires.  (4)  The  matted  roots  of  the  prairie  grasses  formed  a  tough, 
heavy  sod  which  the  pioneer  found  it  difficult  to  break  with  the  weak  tools 
and  the  few  draft  animals  in  his  possession.  Heavier  plows  were  made 
presently,  and  in  a  few  years  a  plow  was  developed  with  a  mould  board 
shaped  especially  to  turn  the  heavy  sod.  In  a  few  years  also,  the  farmer's 
stock  had  increased  so  that  he  no  longer  was  handicapped  by  a  lack  of 
working  animals.  (5)  The  apparent  lack  of  water  on  the  prairie  deterred 
settlers.  Only  after  some  time  did  they  discover  that  water  was  accessible 
by  shallow  wells  almost  everywhere  on  the  prairie.  (6)  In  areas  remote 
from  wooded  valleys,  the  lack  of  wood  formed  an  insuperable  barrier  to 
settlement.  Timber  for  buildings,  fences,  fuel,  tools,  and  other  purposes, 
was  an  absolute  necessity.  (7)  The  large  prairies  were  unavailable  for 
settlement  so  long  as  the  only  means  of  transportation  was  by  wagon  or 
horseback.  The  cost  of  hauling  farm  products  to  market  and  of  getting 
necessities  not  produced  on  the  farm  limited  the  pioneer  settlements  to 
sections  which  could  ship  by  some  waterway. 

For  these  and  other  reasons,  the  settlement  of  the  prairie  was  difficult. 
In  the  timbered  belt,  on  the  other  hand,  conditions  were  favorable  for  home- 
steading.  Cultivatable  land  was  to  be  had  in  the  creek  bottoms,  and  at  the 
edge  of  the  prairies,  where  the  sod  was  less  heavy  than  farther  from  the 
timber.  The  hillsides  furnished  many  springs  of  good  water.  Near  them 
the  frontiersman  generally  built  his  cabin  and  his  barn.  The  valley  slopes 
also  sheltered  buildings  from  prairie  fires  and  winter  winds.  Above  all, 
here  was  timber  in  abundance,  and  here,  in  most  cases,  the  pioneer  had 
easy  access  to  water  routes. 

The  pioneer  was  thus  limited  by  the  conditions  of  his  environment  to 
the  timbered  areas.  The  first  homes  were  built  in  or  along  the  edge  of 
the  best  timber.32  Even  how,  descendants  of  some  of  the  first  settlers  speak 
of  ' '  the  old  homestead  down  in  the  timber, ' '  which  has  been  abandoned  in 
most  cases  for  a  modem  home  well  out  on  the  prairie.  A  number  of  large 
timbered  valleys  favored  the  early  settlement  of  La  Salle  County,  and  their 
absence  retarded  settlement  in  Grundy  County.  In  La  Salle  County  the 
first  settlers  located  in  the  valleys  of  the  Illinois,  the  Big  Vermilion,  and 
the  Fox.     A  dozen  families  which  settled  along  the  timber  of  Nettle  and 

31Baskin,  History  of  Grundy  County,  p.   148. 
^Baldwin,   E.,  History  of  La  Salle  County,  p.   87,    1877. 


156  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

Au  Sable  creeks  in  the  early  thirties,  formed  the  nucleus  of  settlement  in 
Grundy  County.33  In  Putnam  County,  immigration  "spread  over  the 
country  in  every  direction,  like  a  flood,  so  that  nearly  every  grove  of  timber 
soon  found  an  inhabitant."34  In  Bureau  County,  the  earliest  settlements 
were  along  the  timber  of  Bureau  Creek.35  The  northern  and  western  parts 
of  Bureau  County,  the  southern  and  northwestern  parts  of  La  Salle  County, 
and  the  northern  part  of  Grundy  County,  are  all  open  prairie,  and  these 
sections  were  not  settled  until  years  later.  In  the  rest  of  the  region  the 
expansion  of  settlement  from  woodland  to  the  adjacent  prairie  came  about 
easily  and  naturally. 

IMPROVEMENT   OF   THE  HOMESTEAD 

In  all  his  activities  the  pioneer  had  to  adapt  himself  to  his  new  sur- 
roundings. Institutions  and  methods  brought  from  the  East  were  modi- 
fied to  meet  the  needs  of  his  altered  conditions. 

The  establishment  of  a  "claim"  required  at  first  merely  that  the  set- 
tler cultivate  and  harvest  a  crop,  the  amount  thereof  not  being  specified. 
"A  rail  fence  of  four  lengths  was  often  seen  on  the  prairie,  the  ground  en- 
closed, spaded  over,  and  sowed  in  wheat,"30  The  right  to  land  was  secured 
by  its  possession.  Most  of  the  people  living  in  the  region  were  homesteaders, 
and  they  banded  together  when  occasion  demanded  for  the  protection  of 
their  interests  against  land  speculators.  If  a  settler  failed  to  file  a  pre- 
emption claim,  his  neighbors  saw  that  he  had  the  opportunity  to  bid  in  his 
land  at  the  minimum  price  when  it  was  offered  for  sale.  Speculators  were 
handled  roughly  by  settlers  if  they  attempted  to  bid  in  improved  claims. 
By  the  primitive  law  of  the  pioneer  every  settler  had  a  right  to  the  place 
on  which  he  had  located,  and  anyone  who  interfered  was  apt  to  meet  with 
violence.37 

The  first  improvement  which  the  settler  provided  was  shelter  for  him- 
self and  his  goods.  In  a  few  days  he  could  build  a  log  cabin  with  the  ready 
aid  of  his  neighbors.  "Let  a  man  and  family  go  into  any  of  the  frontier 
settlements,  get  a  shelter  or  even  camp  out,  call  upon  the  people  to  aid  him, 
and  in  three  days  from  the  start  he  will  have  a  comfortable  cabin,  and  be- 
come identified  as  a  settler."38  Cabin  raising  offered  an  opportunity  to 
the  neighbors  for  miles  around  for  a  welcome  holiday  to  relieve  the  monot- 
ony of  the  frontier  life.  In  most  cases  the  materials  for  the  cabin  were 
secured  on  the  homestead.  Rudely  hewn  logs  were  used  for  the  walls,  and 
logs  more  carefully  split  provided  the  puncheon  floor,  if  there  was  such  a 


33Armstrong,    Address   at  Old   Settlers'    Reunion,    1876. 
3,Hennepin   Journal  quoted  in    Mitchell,   Illinois,    in    1837,    p.    100. 
33Matson,   Nehemiah,    History  of  Bureau   County,   p.    87. 
36Baldwin,  E.,  History  of  La  Salle  County,  p.   131,    1877. 
3TIdem,   p.    131. 
3SMitchell,   S.  A.,  Illinois  in  1837,  p.  68. 


SETTLEMENT  AND  DEVELOPMENT  157 

luxury.  Wooden  pins  were  used  instead  of  nails,  and  at  the  corners  of  the 
cabin  the  logs  were  secured  by  being  notched  and  fitted  into  each  other. 
Cracks  in  the  wall  were  chinked  with  clay.  The  chimney  was  generally 
built  of  timber  and  plastered  inside  and  out  with  a  mortar  of  sand  and 
clay.  Furniture  and  utensils  were  homemade.  Bedsteads  commonly  were 
built  into  the  corners  of  the  cabin,  and  were  of  the  most  simple  construc- 
tion.39 

Breaking  the  sod  was  a  long  and  arduous  task  for  the  early  settler. 
The  sod  was  strong  and  heavy,  the  plows  were  weak  and  clumsy,  and  his 
stock  was  generally  in  none  too  good  condition.  The  earliest  practice  con- 
sisted in  hitching  six  to  ten  yoke  of  oxen  to  a  plow  that  cut  a  furrow  two 
to  three  feet  wide.40  To  the  plow  was  attached  a  heavy  plow  beam,  framed 
into  an  axle  and  supported  by  clumsy  wheels  cut  from  oak  logs.  These 
unwieldy  plows  fortunately  soon  were  supplanted  by  the  light  highly 
polished  shear-plow  which  slipped  through  the  heavy  sod  like  a  knife.4J 
The  improved  plows  turned  up  a  strip  of  turf  18  to  24  inches  wide,  re- 
quired only  three  yoke  of  oxen,  and  effected  a  considerable  saving  of  time.42 

Wild  prairie  grasses  furnished  food  for  the  live  stock  until  the  first 
crop  was  raised.  They  tided  many  a  farmer  over  the  period  while  he  was 
breaking  the  ground  and  growing  his  first  crop  and  was  without  other  food 
for  his  work  animals.  The  wild  grasses  made  excellent  hay,  especially 
those  which  grew  on  low  ground.43  Patches  of  prairie  grass  were  often 
kept  for  pasturage,  but  commonly  they  were  killed  out  in  a  few  years,  as 
they  were  not  well  adapted  to  grazing. 

The  first  crop  planted  was  almost  invariably  corn.  The  first  year's 
yield  was  known  as  "sod  corn"  and  made  about  half  an  average  crop.44 
Methods  of  planting  were  born  of  the  exigencies  of  the  times ;  in  many  cases 
the  upturned  turf  was  gashed  with  an  axe,  and  the  seed  corn  dropped  in.45 
After  the  first  crop  a  harrow  could  be  used,  and  the  ground  was  put  in 
fairly  good  shape  for  the  second  crop.  This  was  often  some  small  grain 
such  as  wheat  or  barley,  though  in  many  fields  corn  was  raised  exclusively 
for  many  years.  On  the  whole  agricultural  methods  were  crude  and  ineffi- 
cient. As  land  was  to  be  had  almost  for  the  asking,  and  anyone  could 
grow  enough  to  support  himself  and  family,  careful  husbandry  was  not 
necessary.     Wheat,  for  instance,  was  sowed  among  the  corn  stalks  of  the 


39Baldwin,    E.,    History    of   La  Salle    County,    p.    134,    gives    an    animated    description    of    the 
building  of  such  a  cabin. 

^Idem,  p.   136. 

41Curtiss,  D.   S.,   Western  portraiture,   p.  291,   1852. 

^'Beck,  quoted  in  Mitchell,  Illinois  in  1837,  p.   14. 

"Baldwin,  E.,  History  of  La  Salle  County,  p.   171,    1877. 

44Beck,  quoted  in  Mitchell,  Illinois  in   1837,  p.   14. 

^Baldwin,  E.,  History  of  La  Salle  County,  p.   137,    1877. 


158  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

previous  summer's  growth.  It  is  said  that  the  crops  produced  were  on 
the  average  not  more  than  half  as  large  as  they  are  today. 

Agricultural  machinery  came  into  general  use  before  1850.  Drills  and 
harvesters  were  among  the  first  to  be  introduced,  and  soon  were  used  al- 
most universally.  By  1850  mowing  machines  and  threshers  had  proved 
successful.40  The  use  of  farm  machinery  spread  much  more  rapidly  in  this 
section  than  it  did  in  the  Eastern  States,  for  labor  was  difficult  to  secure 
as  long  as  homesteads  were  waiting  for  entry ;  also  the  nearly  level  prairie 
surface  made  farming  by  machinery  particularly  easy  and  profitable. 

As  long  as  large  areas  of  prairie  grass  remained,  there  was  great  dan- 
ger of  prairie  fires.  "From  the  first  frost  until  spring,  the  settler  slept 
with  one  eye  open,  unless  the  ground  was  covered  with  snow."47  Until 
most  of  the  land  had  been  put  into  cultivation,  it  was  customary  to  protect 
the  farm  buildings  by  plowing  a  strip  about  the  farm  yard,  to  save  the 
buildings,  if  not  the  crop. 

The  cost  of  securing  a  homestead  and  improving  it  was  not  great.  In 
many  cases  the  only  cash  expended  was  the  fee  of  $1.25  per  acre  paid  to 
the  land  office.  Breaking  the  prairie  sod  was  estimated  to  cost  about  $2.00 
an  acre.  The  cost  of  fencing  was  greater  than  the  initial  cost  of  the  land. 
Cabin  and  outhouses  cost  little  or  nothing,  if  timber  was  close  at  hand. 
It  was  estimated  by  contemporary  writers  that  a  quarter  section  could  be 
bought  and  improved  for  $1,000  or  less.4S  The  opportunities  were  unsur- 
passed for  men  of  limited  means  who  were  willing  to  bear  hardships  and 
could  labor  patiently.49 

FARE   OF   THE   PIONEER 

For  a  number  of  years  the  settler  was  limited  virtually  to  the  produce 
of  his  farm,  as  markets  were  inaccessible,  and  as  he  had  no  means  of  dis- 
posing of  his  surplus.  His  food  was  simple,  but  sufficient.  Cornmeal, 
hominy,  potatoes,  and  pork  comprised  his  bill  of  fare;  later,  wheat  flour 
was  added.  The  first  industry  established  in  the  region  was  grist  milling. 
The  first  mill  was  built  at  Dayton  in  1830,  and  for  a  short  time  its  nearest 
competitor  was  the  mill  at  Peoria.50  Soon  a  second  mill  was  built  on  In- 
dian Creek,51  and  in  1841  a  large  grist  and  flour  mill  was  built  at  Marseilles 
on  Illinois  River.  These  mills  supplied  the  central  part  of  the  upper  Illi- 
nois and  the  lower  Fox  River  countiy.  In  the  early  thirties  grain  was 
shipped  from  Bureau  County  for  grinding.     In  the  eastern  part  of  the 


4BCurtiss,  D.  S.,  Western  portraiture,  p.  291,  1852. 

47Baldwin,  E.,  History  of  La  Salle  County,  p.  145,   1877. 

48Mitchell,  Illinois  in  1837,  pp.  14  and  69. 

49Hunt's  Merchants'   Magazine,  vol.  3,  p.  35. 

60Kett,  Past  and  present  of  La  Salle  County,  p.  182. 

61Keyes,  Directory  of  La  Salle  County,    1872,  Introduction  to  Dayton  Township. 


SETTLEMENT  AND  DEVELOPMENT  159 

region  a  mill  was  built  at  Channahon  in  1837.  In  many  places  no  grist  mill 
was  accessible,  and  the  settler  or,  more  often,  his  wife,  ground  the  meal  by 
hand,  generally  by  pounding  corn  in  the  mortar.52  Bad  weather  and  bad 
roads  forced  many  a  family  to  live  for  weeks  on  meal  prepared  in  this 
manner. 

There  were  times  when  crops  failed  and  provisions  had  to  be  shipped 
into  the  region.  This  was  difficult  and  tedious,  and  famine  came  close  to 
many  homes  at  such  times.53  Food  is  known  to  have  been  brought  from 
points  hundreds  of  miles  distant.  It  is  related  that  at  one  time  two  men 
traveled  to  central  Illinois,  a  distance  of  almost  200  miles,  to  buy  corn, 
have  it  ground,  and  bring  it  to  the  upper  Illinois  settlements.  On  another 
occasion  a  keel  boat  was  sent  down  the  Illinois  to  the  settlements  on  Sanga- 
mon River  to  buy  grain  for  the  settlers  about  Ottawa. 

INSTITUTIONS  AND   SOCIAL  LIFE 

Unlike  the  settlers  from  the  South,  the  Northern  pioneers  of  this  area 
came  from  a  densely  peopled  region  in  which  farms  were  small,  and  in 
which  many  of  the  people  lived  in  villages  or  towns.  They  had,  therefore, 
developed  social  institutions  to  a  more  advanced  form  than  their  Southern 
neighbors.  Church,  government,  and  school  were  transplanted  from  New 
England  to  the  prairie  home.  A  number  of  colonies  brought  their  minister, 
almost  invariably  Congregational,  and  most  of  them  erected  a  house  of 
worship  almost  as  soon  as  they  had  built  their  cabins.  Schools  also  were 
valued  highly.  In  1828  a  "select"  school  was  organized  at  Ottawa,  and  in 
a  few  years  a  log  school  house  stood  by  the  side  of  the  log  meeting  house, 
and  both  were  attended  with  equal  zeal.  The  first  courthouse  and  jail  were 
built  at  Ottawa  in  1830,54  three  years  after  the  first  election  had  been  held. 
The  township  government  of  this  part  of  the  State  is  also  a  Northern  in- 
stitution, imported  bodily. 

Pioneer  days  offered  little  opportunity  for  social  contact.  Settlers 
were  few  and  scattered  widely,  roads  often  were  impassable,  and  the  task 
of  improving  the  homestead  required  unceasing  attention.  Pioneering  was 
especially  hard  on  the  women,  who  were  kept  at  home  almost  constantly 
by  their  household  duties.  The  isolation  and  monotony  of  pioneer  life 
broke  down  many  settlers,  or  impaired  seriously  their  working  ability. 
Baldwin,  pioneer  historian,  says  that  homesickness  was  a  real  disease,  in 
some  cases  a  deadly  one.  "The  bodies  only  of  a  great  many  people  and 
not  their  minds"  lived  in  the  country  of  their  adoption.55  There  could 
be  slight  progress  as  long  as  the  heart  of  a  man  was  still  in  his  eastern 


52Matson,  Nehemiah,  Tax-payers  and  voters  of  Bureau  County,  p.  99,  and  Baldwin,  p.   129. 

53History  of  La  Salle  County,  p.  464,   1886. 

64Keyes,  Directory  of  La  Salle  County,  Historical  introduction. 

55Ford,  H.  A.,  History  of  Illinois,  p.  230,    1860. 


160  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

home,  and  his  mind  turned  unwillingly  to  the  problems  of  his  new  sur- 
roundings. Naturally  every  opportunity  to  break  this  isolation  was  seized 
upon  eagerly,  and  holidays  were  celebrated  with  an  enthusiasm  which  seems 
strange  and  crude  today.  Log  cabin  raisings,  elections,  political  campaigns, 
corn-husking  bees,  and  above  all  camp  meetings — these  were  the  entertain- 
ments of  the  pioneers.  To  these  simple  pleasures  the  people  looked  forward 
eagerly,  and  from  them  they  drew  food  for  later  reflection  and  conversation. 
News  w^as  scarce  and  traveled  slowly.  Stray  copies  of  newspapers  were 
read  eagerly  for  news  of  the  outside  world.  The  first  local  newspaper  was 
established  at  Hennepin  in  1837.  Two  years  later,  a  weekly  sheet  began 
publication  at  Peru.  In  1840  the  Ottawa  Free  Trader  was  established.  It 
was  not  until  1852  that  a  newspaper  was  started  in  Grundy  County;  at 
this  time  half  a  dozen  papers  were  issued  in  the  upper  valley.  Because  of 
the  devious  and  slow  means  of  communication  and  consequent  lack  of  news 
these  early  papers  were  filled  largely  with  poetry,  essays  and  stories.  The 
few  local  happenings  were  supplemented  by  clippings  from  the  metropoli- 
tan papers  whenever  they  could  be  secured.  The  early  local  sheets  pub- 
lished particularly  news  from  the  St.  Louis  dailies  brought  by  boat.  In 
the  forties,  European  news  was  generally  five  weeks  old,  and  news  from 
the  Atlantic  coast  two  weeks  old.  Harrison's  death,  for  instance,  was  re- 
ported as  a  rumor  after  twelve  days,  and  confirmed  after  nineteen.56  In 
the  press,  as  in  all  other  social  institutions  of  the  day,  the  isolation  of  the 
pioneer  finds  expression  as  the  dominant  feature  of  his  life. 

HEALTH    CONDITIONS 

The  Prairie  States,  notably  healthful  now,  once  were  reputed  very  un- 
healthful.  This  early  opinion  was  in  part  superstition  based  on  a  general 
distrust  of  the  prairies.  That  sickness,  however,  was  much  more  prevalent 
in  the  pioneer  days  than  at  present,  is  well  known.  Among  the  early  set- 
tlers the  few  physicians  and  consequent  lack  of  medical  attention  may  be 
assigned  as  one  reason.  Most  of  the  settlers  were  ignorant  of  hygiene  and 
neglected  the  drainage  and  sanitation  of  their  premises.  The  nearly  level 
prairie  afforded  little  or  no  natural  drainage,  so  that  often  the  accumulated 
refuse  of  the  farm  polluted  the  water  which  the  settler  drank  and  the  air 
which  he  breathed.  Climatic  conditions  were  new  and  strange,  and  it  took 
the  settler  some  time  to  adjust  himself  to  them.  Finally,  the  prairie  itself 
probably  bore  the  seeds  of  sickness  to  a  greater  extent  than  it  does  today. 
There  Avere  many  stagnant  pools  of  water,  and  most  of  the  soil  was  ill 
drained.  Under  such  conditions  malaria,  typhoid,  and  similar  fevers  were 
prevalent. 


eeOttawa  Free  Trader,    volume   for  1840. 


SETTLEMENT  AND  DEVELOPMENT  161 

" Fever  and  ague"  were  the  scourge  of  the  pioneer  and  were  thought 
generally  to  be  caused  by  the  breaking  of  the  prairie  sod  from  which  were 
said  to  issue  "poisonous  miasmas/'  especially  in  late  summer  and  fall. 
Chills  and  fever  broke  up  the  Northampton  colony  near  La  Salle.  The 
summer  of  1838  was  marked  by  an  exceptional  amount  of  sickness;  in  the 
river  towns  nearly  all  were  sick  and  many  died,  and  at  La  Salle  there  were 
said  to  be  300  graves  in  the  fall  on  which  it  had  never  rained.  A  heavy 
spring  flood  followed  by  extreme  heat  in  August  is  said  to  have  favored 
the  development  of  disease  from  the  backwater  of  the  river.57  When  the 
farmers  learned  to  build  away  from  marshes,  on  elevations  with  natural 
drainage,  their  health  improved  greatly.58  As  the  ground  became  culti- 
vated, the  surface  drained,  and  the  farms  supplied  with  well  water,  malarial 
fevers  tended  to  disappear,  and  the  evil  reputation  of  the  prairies  gradu- 
ally was  forgotten. 

TRANSPORTATION 

During  the  first  years,  the  settler  found  neither  time  nor  urgent  need 
for  the  construction  of  transportation  lines.  Until  he  had  improved  his 
homestead  and  won  from  it  a  living,  he  could  not  give  attention  to  means 
of  communication.  As  long  as  his  farm  yielded  no  surplus,  the  pioneer  had 
scant  need  of  markets  in  which  to  exchange  his  products.  These  were  the 
days  of  home-made  products,  from  food  to  clothing.  A  few  primitive  stores 
supplied  tools,  tobacco,  drugs,  and  the  other  articles  which  the  simple  needs 
of  the  people  demanded.  During  this  period  the  only  highways  were  those 
furnished  by  nature — streams  and  the  level  surface  of  the  prairie — and 
for  a  time  they  were  reasonably  adequate. 

Illinois  River  was  the  first  great  highway  of  this  part  of  the  State,  and 
by  it  the  first  settlers  came  into  the  region.  In  1825  a  man  named  Walker 
came  up  the  Illinois  in  a  keel  boat  as  far  as  Ottawa59  and  for  the  next 
decade  Illinois  River  furnished  the  principal  connection  with  the  world 
outside.  The  upper  river  was  of  some  importance  commercially  until  about 
1860,  but  after  1848  it  served  chiefly  as  a  feeder  to  the  Illinois  and  Michi- 
gan Canal.  The  earliest  river  traffic  was  carried  by  log  canoe,  keel  boat, 
barge,  and  raft.  These  craft  usually  were  home  made,  and  were  used  only 
to  float  produce  down  stream,  although  an  occasional  boat,  laden  with  pro- 
visions from  the  South,  was  towed  against  the  current.  Before  1820  steam- 
boats had  been  adapted  to  the  needs  of  navigation  on  inland  rivers,  but 
not  until  1831  did  the  first  steamboat  penetrate  to  the  upper  Illinois  Val- 
ley.   For  several  years  afterward  only  an  occasional  boat  ventured  above 

"Baldwin,   E.,  History  of  La  Salle  County,  p.   159;     also,   Baskin,   History  of  Grundy  County, 
p.   151. 

"Mitchell,  Illinois  in  1837,  p.  69. 

"Introduction   to   Directory  of  La  Salle   County,    1858-1859. 


162  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

Peoria.00  Ottawa  was  the  absolute  head  of  navigation,  but  except  in  time 
of  flood  boats  could  not  pass  the  rapids  above  Utica.  Even  Utica  was  not 
a  satisfactory  shipping  point  because  of  the  bars  built  into  the  Illinois  be- 
low it  by  the  Vermilion  rivers.  Most  of  the  steamboats,  therefore,  stopped 
at  Peru,  which  became  the  chief  river  town  of  the  upper  valley.  It  was 
located  where  the  stream  washes  the  base  of  a  high  terrace  on  the  northern 
side  of  the  valley.  The  site  afforded  good  landing  and  protection  from 
floods.  Depue  was  the  other  river  town  of  this  region.  Illinois  River  was 
never  of  such  importance  to  the  people  of  this  section  as  to  the  people  of 
the  middle  and  lower  valley.  Little  mention  of  steamboating  or  river  traf- 
fic is  made,  either  in  the  press  of  the  day,  or  in  local  history.  The  bars  and 
rapids  of  the  river  cut  off  the  eastern  two-thirds  of  the  region  from  the 
benefits  of  river  transportation.  In  1848  the  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal 
diverted  the  trade  of  the  region  eastward,  and  thereafter  a  large  part  of 
the  river  traffic  consisted  of  through  cargoes  from  the  South  and  West, 
shipped  to  New  York  by  way  of  the  canal. 

Wagon  trails  across  the  prairie  were  used  considerably.  The  earliest 
traces  followed  Indian  trails,  beaten  paths  a  foot  or  two  wide  in  the  sod.61 
Several  of  the  early  roads  were  originally  mail  routes.  In  1828  Kellogg 's 
trail  was  laid  out  from  Peoria  to  Galena  and  along  it  were  made  the  first 
settlements  in  Bureau  County,  namely,  Senaehwine,  Boyds  Grove,  and  the 
settlements  on  Bureau  Creek.02  In  1832  a  mail  route  was  established  from 
southern  Illinois  to  Chicago  via  Decatur,  Ottawa,  and  Fox  River.  A  few 
years  later  the  settlers  began  to  haul  their  surplus  products  to  Chicago,  and 
in  the  middle  thirties  a  number  of  roads  were  worn  by  the  loaded  market 
wagons.  It  was  at  this  time  that  the  Bloomington-Chicago  road,  which 
passed  through  southern  Grundy  County,  began  to  be  outlined  by  the 
droves  of  live  stock  going  to  market  and  the  return  teams  hauling  salt  and 
supplies.03  In  the  thirties  also  a  road  from  Ottawa  to  Joliet  and  Chicago 
was  established.  Such  a  road,  once  fixed,  was  followed  carefully,  as  it  was 
easy  to  get  lost,  or  at  least  to  wander  from  the  direct  road  on  the  feature- 
less prairie.64  After  rains,  and  during  the  spring  thaw,  the  roads  often 
became  impassable  for  weeks  at  a  time.  Bridges  were  unknown  in  this  part 
of  the  State,  and  streams  were  crossed  at  fords.  At  times  streams  in  flood 
isolated  whole  settlements  from  outside  communication,  and  even  caused 
loss  of  life.    It  is  recorded05  that  before  a  bridge  was  built  across  the  Big 


60Ford,    H.    A.,   History  of  Putnam   County,   p.    96,    1860. 

61Baskin,  History  of  Grundy  County,  p.  152. 

G-Matson,  Nehemiah,  History  of  Bureau  County,  p.  87. 

63Baskin,  History  of  Grundy   County,   p.    155. 

64Baldwin,  E.,  History  of  La  Salle  County,  p.  140-141,  tells  of  misleading  mirages,  of  pio- 
neers who  lost  their  lives  on  the  prairie  during  the  winter,  and  of  other  adventures  of  the 
prairie  traveler. 

^Idem,   p.   140. 


SETTLEMENT  AND  DEVELOPMENT  163 

Vermilion  twenty-five  people  were  drowned  while  attempting  to  ford  the 
stream  in  flood-time.  But  crude  as  were  these  trails  and  the  conveyances 
that  creaked  upon  them,  they  afforded  the  settlers  a  means  of  communica- 
tion, and  the  pioneers  of  eastern  La  Salle  and  Grundy  counties  an  outlet  to 
the  eastern  market. 

Boom  Days  and  Their  Collapse 

Like  most  promising  countries,  this  region  passed  through  a  period  of 
exaggerated  enthusiasm  for  its  own  future,  a  period  in  which  ' '  possibilities 
appeared  highly  probable;  and  probabilities  wore  the  livery  of  certainty 
itself."66  The  boom  days  began  in  1835,  several  years  after  settlement 
began  in  force,  and  at  the  time  when  the  opportunities  of  the  country  first 
began  to  be  generally  appreciated.  Eastern  people  and  Eastern  capital 
flowed  into  the  country  as  never  before.  Once  started,  the  spirit  of  specu- 
lation fired  the  imagination  of  settler  and  investor  alike,  and  few  did  not 
dream  of  fortunes  to  be  made  over  night.  Values  were  inflated  to  an  al- 
most incredible  extent,  and  the  feverish  optimism  of  the  fortune  hunter 
blurred  the  commonly  clear  vision  of  the  pioneer  and  business  man. 

Farm  values  increased  tremendously,  but  speculation  concerned  itself 
especially  with  town-site  real  estate.  Chicago  became  the  great  market  for 
town  lands ;  plats  of  towns  for  many  miles  around  were  auctioned  off  con- 
stantly, and  they  are  mentioned  as  Chicago's  chief  "article  of  export"  in 
1836.67  A  cross-road  furnished  an  ideal  and  rarely  neglected  opportunity 
for  locating  a  town,  and  great  cities  were  to  be  built  in  the  prairie  where 
there  was  neither  road  nor  river.68  Towns  already  in  existence  saw  them- 
selves destined  to  become  great  cities.  Peru  was  heralded  as  a  rival  of 
Chicago  for  the  control  of  the  interior.  The  following  extracts  are  from  a 
contemporary  letter  to  the  Pennsylvania  Inquirer:  "This  place  will  un- 
questionably become  one  of  the  greatest  inland  towns  in  the  "West,  and 
second  only  to  Chicago.  A  traveler  riding  through  would  smile  if  you  were 
to  tell  him  that  this  place  was  destined  to  become  a  city.  One  humble  tene- 
ment is  all  it  boasts,  and  a  stranger  would  be  apt  to  imagine  when  you  told 
him  that  a  town  was  laid  out  there,  and  that  lots  were  commanding  from 
$1,000  to  $2,500  apiece  that  the  speculative  fever  was  raging  with  all- 
pervading  influence.  And  but  a  few  short  months  ago,  the  land  there,  was 
entered  for  a  dollar  and  a  quarter  per  acre — now  it  will  readily  command 
from  5,000  to  10,000  dollars  per  acre.  *  *  *  *  Come  then  and  view  this 
rich,  this  growing,  this  flourishing  country — examine  its  resources.  See  the 
field  that  is  opened  for  enterprise  and  talent.  *  *  *  *  My  word  for  it,  a 


fi0Pord,   H.   A.,  History  of  Illinois,   p.    183,   1860. 

C7Ford,  H.  A.,  History  of  Illinois,  p.  181,   1860. 

^Baldwin,    E.,    History    of    La  Salle    County,    p.    174,    relates    how    a   young    orchard    of    his 
was  mistaken  repeatedly  as  the  site  of  a  new  city. 


164  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

city  life  will  lose  its  charms  and  you  will,  without  a  sigh  bid  it  farewell, 
take  up  your  staff  and  come  and  pitch  your  tent  in  the  great,  the  growing, 
the  mighty,  the  boundless  West."09  The  falls  of  the  Illinois  were  to  make 
of  Marseilles  a  second  Lowell  or  Fall  River.  Channahon,  at  the  confluence 
of  three  streams,  none  of  which  was  navigable,  was  to  become  a  great  junc- 
tion of  commercial  routes.  Wild  as  were  these  speculations,  they  pale  be- 
fore the  projects  of  towns  that  never  existed.  In  most  cases  their  very 
names  are  forgotten.  The  names  of  a  few  of  them  have  been  preserved, 
among  them  Gibraltar,  which  was  to  occupy  the  site  of  Starved  Rock,  per- 
haps in  anticipation  of  the  future  profits  of  the  summer  resort,  Kankakee 
City,  Dresden,  and  Three  Rivers.  There  are  not  six  houses  today  on  the 
sites  of  all  these  places,  yet  lots  of  Kankakee  City  are  said  to  have  been 
sold  in  Chicago  and  New  York  for  thousands  of  dollars.  The  town  which 
was  laid  out  at  the  mouth  of  the  Kankakee  River,  was  to  cover  2,000  acres, 
with  broad  avenues  and  ten  public  squares.  Plats  of  this  projected  city 
were  distributed  broadcast  over  the  country,  resplendent  "with  magnifi- 
cent buildings,  busy  with  the  traffic  of  capacious  warehouses  and  crowded 
steamboat  wharves;"70  on  waters  which  have  never  even  felt  the  churn  of 
a  paddle  wheel. 

The  chief  cause  underlying  the  land  boom  of  the  middle  thirties  in  this 
section  was  the  fertility  of  the  soil.  The  new  country  to  which  the  settler 
came  had  a  soil  better  far  than  most  of  the  land  in  his  eastern  home.  Larger 
crops  could  be  raised  with  less  labor;  land  was  cheap  and  the  amount  of 
unentered  land  seemed  unlimited.  The  great  agricultural  possibilities  sug- 
gested the  opportunity  for  the  development  of  prosperous  cities.  All  that 
was  necessary  was  to  begin  such  a  city,  and  the  the  resources  of  the  land 
would  guarantee  its  growth.  Enthusiasm  mounted  higher  and  higher,  and 
by  mutual  stimulation  soon  passed  the  bounds  of  prudence.  Letters  car- 
ried east  the  praises  of  the  new  country,  and  they  grew  in  telling,  until  the 
western  prairie  appeared  to  contain  immeasurable  possibilities. 

Another  cause  lay  in  the  high  prices  which  prevailed  for  a  time.  Dur- 
ing the  first  years  of  settlement  the  crops  grown  were  insufficient  to  feed 
the  settlers  and  the  emigrants  who  were  pouring  into  the  country.  As  a 
result  crops  brought  high  prices.  From  1833  to  1837  wheat  sold  as  high 
as  $2.00  per  bushel,  and  corn  and  oats  for  $1.00  to  $1.50.71  In  Bureau 
County  wheat  brought  $2.50  per  bushel  in  1836,  corn  $1.00,  and  flour  $16.00 
per  barrel.  Grain  was  shipped  up  the  river  from  central  Illinois  to  supply 
the  demand  and  cattle  and  sheep  were  driven  in  largely  from  the  southern 
part  of  the  State.72     As  long  as  immigration  kept  up  the  demand,  prices 


69Quoted   in   Mitchell,   Illinois   in    1837,    pp.    135-6. 
70Baskin,   History  of  Grundy  County,   p.    320. 
"Baldwin,  E.,  History  of  La  Salle   County,   p.    110,    1877. 
"Matson,   Nehemiah,  History  of  Bureau  County,   p.   103. 


SETTLEMENT  AND  DEVELOPMENT  165 

remained  high,  and  the  settlers  enjoyed  a  prosperity  whose  cause  they  did 
not  fully  understand,  but  which  helped  greatly  to  inflate  values. 

Partly  a  cause  of  the  local  boom  and  partly  its  result  was  the  glittering 
scheme  of  internal  improvements  launched  about  at  this  time.  This  move- 
ment shortly  became  the  most  important  issue  in  the  State,  and  later  almost 
bankrupted  the  commonwealth.  The  handicap  of  insufficient  means  of 
transportation  was  felt,  and  it  was  realized  that  improved  communication 
with  the  eastern  and  southern  markets  was  absolutely  necessary.  Popular 
sentiment  accordingly  demanded  the  construction  of  various  lines  of  trans- 
portation to  the  great  seaboard  markets,  with  local  feeders  throughout  the 
State.  The  enthusiasm  for  internal  improvements  soon  seized  hold  upon 
the  legislators,  especially  those  from  the  central  and  northern  counties.  As 
early  as  1835  Governor  Duncan  expressed  "a  laudable  ambition  to  give  to 
Illinois  her  full  share  of  those  advantages  which  are  adorning  her  sister 
states,  and  which  a  munificent  Providence  seems  to  invite  by  the  wonderful 
adaptation  of  our  country  to  such  improvements."73  In  the  spring  and 
summer  of  1836  resolutions  were  passed  at  mass  meetings  in  various  parts 
of  the  State,  declaring  that  the  resources  of  the  State  could  be  developed 
only  by  extensive  improvements,  and  that  these  would  pay  for  themselves 
by  the  capital  which  they  would  attract  to  the  country.  In  October,  1836, 
an  Internal  Improvement  Convention  was  held,  and  "the  most  wild  calcu- 
lations were  made  of  the  advantages  of  a  system  of  internal  improvements ; 
*  #  #  *  an(j  0f  our  finai  ability  to  pay  all  indebtedness  without  taxation."74 
In  February,  1837,  the  Legislature  appropriated  $10,230,000  to  be  expended 
in  the  construction  of  internal  improvements  other  than  the  Illinois  and 
Michigan  Canal.  This  sum  was  voted  without  previous  surveys,  without 
even  an  approximate  idea  of  the  cost  of  the  work  to  be  undertaken.  The 
money  was  appropriated  (1)  to  secure  better  communication  with  the 
southern  markets,  especially  with  New  Orleans,  by  the  improvement  of  the 
navigable  streams  of  the  State;  and  (2)  to  build  cross-State  railroads  from 
north  to  south  and  east  to  west  for  the  purpose  of  connecting  points  at 
opposite  ends  of  the  State,  between  most  of  which  there  was  neither  trade 
nor  the  prospect  of  large  trade.  The  only  really  important  improvement 
of  the  day  was  begun  somewhat  earlier  and  had  been  provided  for  sepa- 
rately; this  was  the  construction  of  the  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal,  to 
unite  the  Lakes  and  the  Mississippi  system.  For  a  brief  period  the  glitter- 
ing scheme  of  internal  improvement  gilded  the  future  with  promises  of  an 
assured  and  immediate  prosperity. 

The  upper  Illinois  country  participated  in  all  these  projects:  (1)  It 
was  to  receive  a  share  of  the  $100,000  appropriated  for  improving  the  navi- 

73Governor's  Message,  December  7,   1835. 
74Ford,  H.  A.,   History  of  Illinois,  p.   183.   1860. 


166  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

gation  of  Illinois  River.  (2)  The  western  terminus  of  the  Illinois  and 
Michigan  Canal  was  to  be  located  in  La  Salle  County.  (3)  The  great  Cen- 
tral Railroad  projected  to  run  from  the  Wisconsin  State  line  to  Cairo  was 
to  cross  the  western  terminus  of  the  Canal.  (4)  Putnam  County  received 
a  cash  bonus  of  about  $9,000  from  the  consolation  money  distributed  among 
the  counties  left  without  internal  improvement. 

The  boom  days  were  brought  to  a  sudden  and  disastrous  end  by  the 
panic  of  1837.  These  hard  times  were  caused  by  morbid  economic  condi- 
tions throughout  the  country,  and  were  aggravated  by  the  situation  in  the 
State.  (1)  Speculation  in  its  grossest  forms  had  lured  individuals  and 
banking  institutions  far  beyond  the  safety  line  of  reliable  assets.  (2)  As 
the  new  settlers  filled  up  the  region,  and  began  to  produce  large  crops,  the 
local  markets  were  glutted,  and  foreign  markets  were  not  easily  accessible. 
After  1837  there  was  a  considerable  surplus  of  grain  and  livestock  in  the 
upper  Illinois  country,  and  the  price  of  farm  products  fell  to  the  prices  at 
the  eastern  markets  less  the  transportation  charges,  which  reduced  their 
value  below  the  price  of  profitable  production.75  The  farmers  of  eastern 
La  Salle  County  hauled  considerable  grain  to  Chicago  in  these  years. 
Bureau  County  shipped  down  stream,  especially  to  St.  Louis,  although  some 
grain  was  hauled  even  from  here  to  Chicago.70  The  desperate  conditions 
are  strikingly  illustrated  by  this  haul  of  120  miles,  which  some  of  the 
Bureau  County  farmers  made  to  dispose  of  their  products  for  the  barest 
necessities  of  life.  Wheat  sold  as  low  as  25  cents  a  bushel.  Pork  brought 
$1.50  per  hundred  in  Bureau  County.  In  La  Salle  County  wheat  sold  for 
30  to  40  cents  per  bushel,  corn  for  10  to  15  cents  per  bushel,  eggs  as  low  as 
3  cents  a  dozen,  and  cheese  and  butter  at  5  cents  a  pound.77  (3)  Many 
towns  had  bonded  themselves  heavily,  relying  upon  a  sufficient  increase  in 
population  to  meet  their  liabilities.  When  their  expectations  were  not 
realized,  some  of  them  were  forced  into  bankruptcy.  (4)  The  State  en- 
gaged in  many  improvement  schemes  which  were  scarcely  started  when  the 
original  appropriation  was  exhausted.  By  1840  the  State  had  accumulated 
a  debt  of  $14,237, 34878  and  had  succeeded  only  in  getting  the  canal  well 
under  way,  and  in  building  a  few  short  and  unimportant  stretches  of  rail- 
road. The  State  lands,  located  along  the  railroads  and  the  canal,  had  not 
sold  to  the  extent  anticipated,  and  the  increase  in  revenues  from  the  prop- 
erty of  new  settlers  had  not  materialized  as  had  been  hoped.  In  this  year, 
the  revenues  of  the  State  were  less  than  one-seventh  of  the  annual  interest 


75Baldwin,   History  of  La  Salle   County,  p.    175,    1877. 

76Matson,  Nehemiah,  History  of  Bureau  County,  p.  103. 

77Kett,  Past  and  present  of  La  Salle  County,  p.   194. 

"Davidson,  Alexander,  and  Struve,  Bernard,  History  of  Illinois,  p.  448. 


SETTLEMENT  AND  DEVELOPMENT  167 

on  the  State  debt.  In  1841  payment  of  interest  was  stopped  entirely,  and 
the  bonds  of  the  State  dropped  to  18  cents  on  the  dollar.79 

The  results  of  the  collapse  were:  (1)  the  ruin  of  the  credit  of  the 
State,  attended  by  an  utter  demoralization  of  financial  conditions  and  the 
disappearance  of  coin  from  circulation;  (2)  the  abandonment  of  all  the 
improvement  enterprises;  (3)  the  stranding  throughout  the  State  of  a 
great  number  of  laborers  who  had  been  engaged  in  building  various  trans- 
portation routes;  (4)  the  stoppage  of  immigration.  Emigrants  naturally 
avoided  a  State  so  burdened  with  debts  that  it  appeared  impossible  for  it 
ever  to  free  its  inhabitants  from  intolerable  taxation.  Many  people  left  the 
State  and  for  several  years  the  development  of  Illinois  seemed  permanently 
blasted  by  its  visionary  schemes  of  improvement. 

In  1842  a  conservative  administration,  headed  by  Governor  Ford,  be- 
gan the  rehabilitation  of  the  credit  of  the  State.  The  Illinois  and  Michigan 
Canal  was  completed  as  the  most  promising  of  the  projects  undertaken,  and 
the  others  were  abandoned.  By  the  middle  forties  payment  of  the  public 
debt  was  resumed,  immigration  sought  the  State  once  more,  and  the  devel- 
opment of  its  natural  resources  began  again. 

Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal 
construction 

Near793  Summit,  the  Desplaines  River  approaches  within  three  miles 
of  the  South  Branch  of  the  Chicago  River,  and  the  watershed  is  so  low  that 
in  wet  seasons  it  has  been  obliterated  entirely  at  times.  Boats  have  passed 
from  Lake  Michigan  into  Chicago  River,  and  thence  to  the  Desplaines,  Illi- 
nois, and  Mississippi  rivers  without  unloading.  Caton  tells  of  such  a  trip 
from  Chicago  to  the  Desplaines  made  in  1833  in  a  canoe.  Others  report 
that  at  times  boats  of  18  tons  were  floated  across  this  divide.80 

The  ease  with  which  a  canal  might  be  dug  to  join  the  lakes  and  Illi- 
nois River,  and  with  which  it  could  be  supplied  with  water  from  Lake  Michi- 
gan, directed  the  minds  of  people  to  projects  of  this  sort  at  an  early  date. 
Joliet  and  Marquette  saw  the  possibility  of  opening  such  a  canal  as  they 
portaged  across  this  divide  for  the  first  time.  At  the  beginning  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  a  canal  was  recommended  for  military  purposes.  In  1814 
President  Madison  advocated  such  a  canal  to  provide  a  way  to  reach  the 
interior,  and  Secretary  of  War  Calhoun  made  a  similar  recommendation  in 
1819.  In  1827  Congress  donated  to  the  State  every  alternate  section  within 
five  miles  of  the  proposed  canal,  in  all  about  325,000  acres.81     In  1829  the 


79Idem,  p.  451. 

7oa  For  a  good  discussion   of   this   canal   see  also    Barrows,   H.   H.,    The   Middle   Illinois   Val- 
ley,  Illinois  Geol.   Survey  Bull.   15. 

80Hoffman,  C.  F.,  A  winter  in  the  West,   vol.  2,  p.  21,   1882. 

81Preliminary  Report  Inland  Waterways  Committee  1908,  pp.  178-247. 


168  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

construction  of  a  canal  under  State  authority,  to  join  Lake  Michigan  and 
Illinois  River,  was  authorized.  Shortly  after,  a  new  survey  placed  the  esti- 
mated cost  at  approximately  $4, 000, 000. S2  In  1834  a  preliminary  loan  was 
made  by  an  issue  of  State  bonds,  and  in  1836  work  began.  A  year  later  the 
panic  came,  and  in  1839  work  was  suspended  entirely.83  The  State  was 
unable  to  pay  its  canal  debts  in  specie,  and  commenced  issuing  scrip.  By 
1843  almost  $5,000,000  had  been  expended;  and  in  this  year  the  project 
of  a  lake  level  canal  was  abandoned  for  a  shallow  cut  canal  Avith  numerous 
locks  to  save  expense  in  construction.  By  arranging  a  transfer  of  property 
to  its  bond  holders  the  project  was  carried  to  completion.  When  the  canal 
was  transferred,  its  affairs  were  in  an  utterly  demoralized  condition,  as 
shown  in  the  following  tables  of  values  of  canal  scrip  :84 

Apr.,  1840,  value  generally  at  par. 

May,  1840,  70  cents  on  the  dollar. 

Dec,  1841,  40  cents  on  the  dollar. 

Dec,  1842,  28  to  33  cents  on  the  dollar. 

Jan.,  1843,  16  to  20  cents  on  the  dollar. 
1845,  30  to  32  cents  on  the  dollar. 
1847,  35  cents  on  the  dollar. 
The  canal  was  completed  in  1848,  and  the  first  boat  was  let  through 
the  locks  on  April  23,  amidst  public  celebration  all  along  the  route. 

traffic 

For  a  number  of  years  the  canal  handled  almost  the  entire  east-west 
traffic  of  northern  and  central  Illinois.  Figure  63  shows  the  chief  com- 
modities carried  during  the  first  ten  years  of  its  operation,  and  the  changes 
in  their  relative  importance.  They  fall  into  four  general  groups:  (1)  com- 
modities chiefly  shipped  out,  as  grain,  coal,  pork,  and  lard;  (2)  commodi- 
ties chiefly  shipped  in,  as  lumber,  siding,  shingles,  laths,  salt,  railroad  iron, 
and  foundry  products;  (3)  articles  of  local  commerce,  transferred  for  short 
distances  along  the  canal,  as  sand,  earth,  and  stone;  and  (4)  through 
freight.  For  the  shipment  of  the  last  group  of  commodities,  the  canal  was 
used  as  a  link  especially  in  the  trade  between  the  South  and  the  Atlantic 
Northeast. 

Of  the  commodities  shipped  out,  corn  speedily  came  to  be  far  and  away 
the  most  important.  Before  the  canal  was  opened,  wheat  had  been  grown 
almost  as  extensively  as  corn.  The  cheap  transportation  afforded  by  the 
canal  made  it  advantageous  to  produce  the  bulkier  grain  on  the  heavy,  rich 
prairie  soil,  and  wheat  soon  became  a  subordinate  crop  in  upper  Illinois 


8-Report  of  Canal  Commissioners  to  the  Senate  of  Illinois,   13th  General  Assembly,  pp.   1-8. 
S3Baldwin,   E.,  History  of  La  Salle   County,   p.    175,    1877. 

S4Report    of    Abraham    Lincoln   and    M.    Johnston    to    the    Twentieth    General    Assembly,    First 
Session. 


SETTLEMENT  AND  DEVELOPMENT 


169 


Valley.  Next  to  corn  and  wheat,  but  in  much  smaller  quantity,  coal  was 
exported  most  largely.  In  the  earliest  years  of  the  canal,  coal  mining  in 
this  region  was  still  in  its  infancy.  Later  the  traffic  in  coal  was  secured 
by  the  railroads,  so  that  this  commodity  was  not  long  prominent  in  the 
canal  traffic. 

Of  the  articles  shipped  in,  lumber  ranked  first,  and  was  of  slightly 
greater  importance  in  the  canal  traffic  than  corn.  Lumber,  lath,  and 
shingles  for  buildings,  posts  and  poles  for  fences,  and  cord  wood  for  fuel 
were  prime  requisites  in  the  development  of  the  prairie.    Until  these  could 


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Fig.  63. — Graph  showing  chief  commodities  carried  on  the  canal  from  1849  to  1858. 


be  supplied,  the  settlement  of  much  of  the  prairie  was  impracticable.  Lum- 
ber could  be  secured  near  the  Great  Lakes  in  Michigan  and  Wisconsin  at 
very  low  prices  and  could  be  shipped  to  Chicago  cheaply  by  boat,  but  the 
cost  of  transportation  inland  by  wagon  was  so  great  that,  until  the  canal  was 
opened,  it  was  cheaper  to  ship  lumber  from  New  York  and  Pennsylvania, 
down  the  Allegheny  and  the  Ohio  rivers  and  thence  up  the  Mississippi  and 
Illinois  rivers  to  Bureau  or  La  Salle  County,  than  to  bring  it  from  Chi- 
cago.85   In  1837  pine  lumber  sold  for  $50  to  $60  per  thousand  at  St.  Louis,86 

S3Hunt's   Merchants'    Magazine,   vol.   41,  p.   695. 
^Jones,   A.   D.,    Illinois  and  the  West,  p.   207,    1838. 


170  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

and  for  considerably  more  in  the  upper  Illinois  country.  The  great  pine 
forests  of  Michigan  and  later  those  of  Wisconsin  furnished  Chicago  with 
lumber  at  prices  much  lower  than  those  which  prevailed  in  central  Illinois. 
Chicago  became  a  large  lumber  market  even  before  the  opening  of  the  canal. 
The  latter,  however,  furnished  it  with  an  almost  unlimited  outlet  to  the 
prairies  of  the  middle  West.  The  receipts  of  lumber  in  Chicago  in  1848 
were  60,009,250  feet,  as  against  32,118,225  feet  in  1847."  This  means  that 
in  the  year  in  which  the  canal  opened  the  receipts  almost  doubled;  in 
another  decade  they  had  increased  tenfold.  For  years  Chicago  was  the 
world's  greatest  lumber  market,  and  it  lost  this  position  only  when  lumber- 
ing declined  in  the  Great  Lakes  region.  The  capital  attracted  by  the  lum- 
ber trade  stimulated  the  growth  of  Chicago  and  established  many  other 
wood-using  industries.  This  trade  was  built  largely  on  the  demands  of  the 
prairies,  which  were  first  made  accessible  by  the  canal.  To  the  canal,  there- 
fore, belongs  much  of  the  credit  for  the  earlier  development  of  Chicago. 
The  first  canal  boat  which  came  to  Ottawa  carried  lumber,  and  this  boat- 
load reduced  the  price  of  lumber  there  from  $60  to  $30  per  thousand  and 
later  shipments  lowered  the  price  still  further.  From  1848  on,  lumber  could 
be  had  for  all  purposes.  Log  cabins  ceased  to  be  built,  and  for  many  years 
frame  houses  were  constructed,  almost  to  the  exclusion  of  brick  and  stone. 
Merchandise  was  an  important  item  in  canal  traffic  until  1853,  when  the 
first  railroad  in  the  upper  valley  was  built.  In  transporting  merchandise, 
time  was  a  more  important  element  than  in  the  transportation  of  most  other 
commodities,  whereas  freight  charges  were  less  important.  It  was  natural, 
therefore,  that  high-priced  merchandise  should  be  handled  almost  immedi- 
ately by  the  more  expeditious  railroads,  while  the  bulkier  commodities  con- 
tinued to  be  moved  largely  by  canal.  Railroad  iron  formed  an  important 
article  of  import  during  the  middle  fifties,  while  railroads  were  being  built 
in  the  territory  contiguous  to  the  canal  and  the  Illinois  River.  Salt  was  a 
prime  necessity  which  had  to  be  imported,  and  which  could  be  brought  from 
the  salines  of  New  York  more  cheaply  than  it  had  been  shipped  in  previ- 
ously from  the  Ohio  River  salt  works  by  way  of  the  Mississippi  and  Illi- 
nois rivers.  The  cheaper  salt  which  the  canal  brought  in  stimulated  the 
development  of  stock  raising  in  this  country. 

Of  increasing  importance  in  the  traffic  of  the  canal  were  short-distance 
hauls,  by  which  bulky  products  were  transported  from  point  to  point  within 
the  region.  Much  sand  and  gravel  from  pits  along  Illinois  Valley  was 
handled  in  this  way.  In  the  latter  half  of  the  first  decade  of  canal  traffic, 
stone  was  its  most  important  item,  and  was  used  chiefly  for  the  extensive 
railroad  construction  of  those  years. 


"Hunt's  Merchants'  Magazine,   vol.  40,  p.  229. 


SETTLEMENT  AND  DEVELOPMENT 


171 


In  the  early  years,  through  shipments  were  prominent  among  the  items 
of  canal  traffic.  Grain  from  farther  west  was  shipped  in  large  quantity 
through  the  canal.  For  some  years  nearly  all  the  lumber  shipped  to  central 
Illinois  and  Iowa  passed  through  the  canal  and  down  Illinois  River,  to  be 
distributed  to  the  prairie  settlements  of  the  middle  Mississippi  Basin.  The 
Mississippi  and  Illinois  rivers,  the  canal,  and  the  Great  Lakes  formed  a 
great  route  for  the  shipment  of  goods  from  the  lower  Mississippi  Valley  to 
the  east,  and  vice  versa.  In  1849,  3,973,145  pounds  of  sugar,  3,659  gallons 
of  molasses,  173,407  pounds  of  tobacco,  and  307,861  pounds  of  hemp  were 
cleared  at  La  Salle.     Curtissss  writes  in  1852  that  "merchandise  of  almost 


Fig.    64. — ■  Graph    showing   tolls    collected    by    Illinois    and    Michigan    Canal    from 
1848  to  1907. 


every  description,  passing  from  the  East  to  the  Illinois,  Mississippi,  or  Mis- 
souri rivers,  are  now  forwarded  by  way  of  the  Lakes  and  the  Illinois  and 
Michigan  Canal.  Within  a  short  time  past,  we  have  noticed  large  consign- 
ments coming  up  the  Lakes,  en  route  for  the  St.  Louis  market.  *  *  *  *  A 
late  number  of  the  St.  Louis  Intelligencer  notices  the  arrival  at  that  place 
of  a  canal  boat  load  of  Porto  Rico  sugar,  which  had  been  brought  through 
from  New  York.  *  *  #  *  The  Albany  Evening  Journal  says :  A  canal  boat 
is  now  in  the  basin  *  *  *  *  laden  with  cotton,  being  the  fourth  which  has 
brought  this  staple  from  the  West  this  season." 


88Curtiss,  D.  S.,  Western  portraiture,  pp.  47-48. 


172 


UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 


The  gradual  changes  in  the  character  of  the  canal  trade  are  shown  in 
figures  64  and  65.  The  maximum  tonnage  was  not  reached  until  1882,  but 
canal  tolls  declined  after  1865.  This  condition  was  due  chiefly  to  three 
reasons:  (1)  The  competition  of  the  railroads  forced  a  reduction  of  the 
toll  on  almost  all  articles,  as  shown  by  the  following  table : 


Fig.   65. —  Graph  showing  tons   transported   on   Illinois   and    Michigan   Canal    from 
1849  to  1907. 


Tolls  charged  per  mile                                                                     1851  1856 

Cents  Cents 

Freight   boats,   each 3.50  2.00 

Passenger  boats,   each 6.00  3.00 

Animals,  per  1,000    lbs 0.75  0.30 

Corn,                    do              0.03  0.03 

Furniture,           do              1.00  0.80 

Merchandise,      do              1.20  0.50 

Machinery,         do              1.00  0.50 


SETTLEMENT  AND  DEVELOPMENT  173 

(2)  The  railroads  carried  freight  with  much  greater  speed  than  did  the 
slowly  moving  canal  boats,  and  as  a  result  the  canal  lost  most  of  its  high- 
priced  freight,  in  moving  which  the  saving  of  time  was  important.  This 
kind  of  freight,  such  as  merchandise  and  furniture,  had  been  especially 
profitable  because  of  the  relatively  high  tolls  which  had  been  charged.  The 
traffic  that  remained  to  the  canal  was  limited  to  the  transportation  of  bulky, 
cheap  commodities.  (3)  The  length  of  the  average  haul  was  cut  down 
gradually,  and  this  helped  to  reduce  the  tolls.  The  canal  traffic  depended 
increasingly  upon  hauls  too  short  to  be  profitable  to  the  railroads.  For 
through  hauls,  the  railroads  in  most  cases  offered  inducements  with  which 
the  canal  could  not  compete.  The  increase  in  tonnage  from  1854  to  3882 
is  largely  an  increase  in  short-distance  hauls. 

Passenger  traffic  on  the  canal  was  short-lived.  During  the  first  four 
years  of  its  operation,  packet  boats  plied  regularly  between  Chicago  and 
Peru,  and  made  the  trip  in  about  20  to  24  hours — a  little  less  than  the  time 
required  by  the  stage  coaches.89  The  fare  by  packet  Avas  $4,  and  by  freight 
boat,  $2  to  $3 ;  this  was  regarded  as  low  at  the  time.  At  Peru  the  packets 
connected  with  steamboats  for  St.  Louis,  which  carried  passengers  to  the 
latter  place  for  $3  to  $5.  In  its  first  years  the  canal  served  both  local  and 
through  passenger  traffic.  In  1851  the  highest  mark  was  reached  with 
3,411,504  passengers.  The  following  year  2,630,713  passengers  were  car- 
ried, the  great  majority  for  short  distances ;  and  in  1853,  the  tyear  in  which 
the  first  railroad  was  completed,  the  packet  boats  were  sold,  and  the  traffic 
abandoned.  Even  less  than  in  fast  freight  could  the  canal  compete  with 
the  railroad  for  the  passenger  trade,  for  the  railroad  provided  transporta- 
tion in  one-fourth  the  time  required  by  the  fastest  packet,  and  at  one-fourth 
less  cost.  The  newspapers  withdrew  the  favor  they  had  bestowed  so  lib- 
erally on  the  genteel  packet,  and  henceforth  sounded  the  praises  of  the  "iron 
horse."  The  canal  gave  way  in  public  interest  to  the  railroad,  and  in  a 
single  season  became  an  antiquated  means  of  communication. 

SERVICES    OF    CANAL 

In  several  ways  the  canal  was  of  great  service  in  building  up  the 
region  served  by  it : 

1.  The  canal  provided  a  choice  of  markets  and  secured  to  the  farmer 
profitable  prices  for  his  products.  Previously  most  of  the  produce  had  to 
be  shipped  downstream  to  St.  Louis  and  New  Orleans  and  had  to  compete 
with  crops  produced  nearer  to  these  markets.  Much  produce  had  also  been 
hauled  tediously  to  Chicago.  Prices  almost  always  were  low  in  New  Orleans, 
because  most  of  the  time  the  market  was  glutted.90   In  the  upper  Mississippi 


89Curtiss,   D.    S.,   Western  portraiture,   p.   67. 
°°Ford,  H.  A.,  History  of  Illinois,   p.   98,    1860. 


174  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

Valley  surplus  products  were  unsalable  at  times,  except  where  they  could 
be  hauled  to  some  lake  port.  After  1848  the  canal  opened  up  the  markets 
on  the  lakes  and  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard.  The  consumption  of  agricultural 
produce  always  had  been  relatively  small  in  New  Orleans,  and  the  bulk 
of  its  receipts  was  shipped  eastward.  By  means  of  the  canal,  the  farmer 
could  ship  via  Chicago  and  Buffalo  to  New  York,  whereas  before  his  produce 
had  traveled  a  thousand  miles  south  to  New  Orleans,  and  thence  to  New 
York.  The  northern  route  saved  practically  the  cost  of  shipment  from 
New  Orleans  to  New  York.  The  advantage  of  the  Great  Lakes-Erie  Canal 
route  was  great,  because  it  was  (a)  far  shorter,  (b)  less  dangerous,  and 
(c)  more  direct.  Furthermore,  (d)  avoidance  of  the  congested  and  inade- 
quate harbor  at  New  Orleans  saved  time,  and  (e)  the  Lake  route  obviated 
the  drawbacks  of  the  sub-tropical  climate  of  the  Gulf  region,  in  which  most 
agricultural  products  deteriorated,  and  many  spoiled. 

Prices  rose  with  the  opening  of  the  canal,  and  the  farmer  who  had  only 
made  a  bare  living,  now  sold  his  crops  with  profit.  The  following  table 
shows  the  prices  which  were  secured  in  Ottawa  in  1856. 

Corn,    38-40  cents  per  bushel 

Wheat $1.25-$1.40  do 

Oats 27-35  cents  do 

Potatoes 35  cents  do 

Pork 5y2-6  cents 

The  freight  rate  for  a  bushel  of  grain  from  La  Salle  to  Chicago  varied 
from  4  to  8  cents  and  averaged  7  cents.91  On  the  basis  of  15  cents  per 
ton-mile  for  wagon  haulage,  the  cost  of  transportation  by  wagon  from 
La  Salle  to  Chicago  was  about  46  cents  per  bushel.  The  canal  thus  effected 
an  average  saving  of  39  cents  per  bushel  for  the  crops  of  western  La  Salle 
County,  which  with  an  average  yield  for  wheat  of  20  bushels  per  acre, 
meant  an  added  profit  on  wheat  of  $7.80  per  acre,  and  with  an  average 
yield  of  45  bushels  of  corn  meant  increased  profits  of  $17.55  per  acre.  The 
canal  made  corn  a  paying  crop  in  the  upper  valley,  whereas  previously  it 
could  not  be  marketed  with  profit. 

By  means  of  the  canal  and  Illinois  River,  most  of  the  trade  of  north- 
ern and  central  Illinois  that  previously  had  gone  to  St.  Louis  was  diverted 
to  Chicago.  Chicago,  which  before  had  struggled  with  St.  Louis  for  leader- 
ship of  the  intervening  region,  now  went  ahead  of  the  latter  by  leaps  and 
bounds.  The  straggle  became  still  more  unequal  as  railroads  were  built 
west  from  Lake  Michigan,  and  cut  off  still  more  territory  that  had  been 
tributary  to  St.  Louis. 

2.  The  canal  enabled  the  importation  of  necessities  needed  for  the  de- 
velopment of  the  region.    The  lumber  trade,  already  noted,  was  one  of  the 

91Kett,  Past  and  present  of  La  Salle  County,  p.  196. 


SETTLEMENT  AND  DEVELOPMENT  175 

greatest  aids  in  the  settlement  of  the  prairie,  and  in  the  building  of  towns. 
Cheaper  salt  encouraged  the  growing  of  live  stock.  Agricultural  imple- 
ments reduced  the  labor  of  farming.  Woven  goods  of  all  kinds  were 
shipped  in  and  released  the  farmer's  wife  from  the  drudgery  of  the  spin- 
ning wheel  and  the  loom.  A  greater  choice  of  foodstuffs  was  made  pos- 
sible. Some  of  the  articles  which  were  imported  increased  the  efficiency  of 
the  pioneer,  and  others  added  to  the  comforts  of  his  life.  The  canal  was 
the  first  great  agent  to  break  down  the  isolation  and  hardships  of  pioneer 
life  in  the  upper  Illinois  Valley. 

3.  The  canal  added  to  the  wealth  of  the  region,  by  helping  to  re- 
establish security  in  the  tottering  finances  of  the  State,  and  by  attracting 
immigrants  into  business,  manufactures,  and  agriculture,  thus  stimulating 
the  development  of  agricultural  districts  and  the  growth  of  towns.  Farm 
prices  arose  almost  as  rapidly  as  in  the  earlier  boom  days,  but  this  time  the 
increase  was  legitimate,  for  it  was  based  on  an  increased  value  of  farm 
crops.  In  1857  farm  land  in  La  Salle  County  was  worth  from  $8  to  $40 
per  acre ;  timbered  lands  bringing  $15  to  $90.  In  Putnam  County  land 
which  had  sold  for  $12  to  $20  an  acre  in  1848  had  risen  to  $25  to  $35,  and 
in  Will  County  wild  prairie  land  which  could  have  been  bought  in  1848  at 
the  Congressional  price,  sold  for  $10. 92  It  was  estimated  in  1857  that  farm 
lands  in  La  Salle  County  equaled  in  value  those  about  Columbus,  Ohio,  and 
were  worth  $37.50  per  acre  more  than  land  of  equal  quality  at  Iowa  City, 
Iowa,  and  $68.75  more  than  land  at  Des  Moines,  Iowa.93 

4.  The  canal  brought  into  this  region  the  first  considerable  foreign 
element,  large  numbers  of  Irishmen  being  imported  to  work  upon  it.  They 
outnumbered  at  times  the  native  residents  in  the  towns  along  the  canal.94 
During  the  financial  crisis,  from  1839  to  1843,  most  of  them  were  thrown 


s-'Gerhard,   Frederick,  Illinois  as  it  is,  pp.  402-3,    1857. 
93Campbell,  A.,  La  Salle,  A  glimpse  at  Illinois. 
Cost  of  transporting  wheat, : 


Columbus,   Ohio,    to   Cleveland 
Cleveland  to  Buffalo 
Buffalo  to  New  York 
Total  cost 

Gents  per  bushel 

10 

4 

12 

26 

La  Salle  to  Chicago 
Chicago  to  Buffalo 
Buffalo  to  New  York 
Total  cost 

7 

7 

12 

26 

Iowa  City  to  Chicago 
Chicago  to  Buffalo 
Buffalo  to  New  York 
Total  cost 

19 

7 
12 
38 

Des  Moines  to   Chicago 
Chicago  to  Buffalo 
Buffalo  to  New  York 
Total  cost 

29 

7 

12 

48 

Values  of  farm  land  quoted  above  computed  from  these  figures  on  the  basis  of  6  per  cent. 
wBaskin,   History  of  Grundy  County,  p.    158. 


176  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

out  of  work,  and  having  little  or  no  money,  had  to  stay  in  this  district. 
The  canal  contractors  paid  the  laborers  in  canal  scrip,  which  deteriorated 
so  greatly  that  it  could  not  be  used  with  profit  for  anything  except  the 
purchase  of  canal  lands.  For  this,  it  was  accepted  at  par  value.  Driven 
by  necessity,  many  of  these  Irish  laborers  bought  lands  with  their  scrip, 
and  farmed  them  after  a  fashion.  Their  lands  made  many  of  them  wealthy 
in  later  years.  The  Irish  element,  descended  from  these  involuntary  set- 
tlers, is  still  numerous  in  the  upper  valley,  both  in  the  cities,  especially  in 
La  Salle,  and  in  the  country. 

5.  There  had  been  little  opportunity  for  trade  before  the  canal  was 
built,  and  towns  were  few  and  straggling.  The  canal,  however,  opened  up 
trade,  and  stimulated  the  growth  of  local  trade  centers  which  collected 
produce  and  distributed  merchandise  for  the  country  about.  The  growth 
of  the  following  towns  was  influenced  strongly  by  the  canal : 

Peru  had  some  river  trade  when  the  canal  was  begun,  and  it  was  ex- 
pected that,  as  the  western  terminus  of  the  canal,  it  would  become  a  large 
city,  rivaling  Chicago.95  In  the  internal  improvement  scheme  of  1836  it 
was  planned  to  have  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  cross  the  river  here.  As 
the  proposed  junction  of  three  important  transportation  lines — river,  canal, 
and  railroad — Peru  was  boomed  tremendously  during  those  years.  In  1837, 
the  town  contained  one  warehouse  and  two  or  three  dwellings.  In  that 
year,  the  canal  contracts  were  let,  and  by  the  following  summer  it  had 
426  inhabitants.  The  panic  set  in,  and  in  1842  less  than  half  that  number 
were  left.9B  With  the  return  of  prosperity,  its  growth  recommenced,  but 
Peru  never  realized  the  future  prophesied  for  it.  The  railroad  project  was 
abandoned  after  a  part  of  the  road  bed  had  been  graded.  Contrary  to  ex- 
pectations, the  completion  of  the  canal  injured  Peru.  It  is  true  that  Peru 
was  at  the  western  terminus  of  the  canal,  but  a  "steamboat  and  canal 
basin"  was  built  on  the  flood  plain  at  La  Salle,  and  this  became  the  actual 
harbor  in  which  steamers  and  canalboats  mingled  for  the  trans-shipment  of 
goods.  The  forwarding  business,  after  a  long  and  ineffectual  struggle  on 
the  part  of  Peru  to  retain  it,  finally  settled  at  La  Salle. 

La  Salle  was  laid  out  in  1837,  and  the  village  throve  by  the  trade  of 
the  canal  laborers  until  work  was  stopped  during  the  hard  times.  With 
the  resumption  of  activities  in  1843,  the  settlement  grew  once  more.  The 
completion  of  the  canal  and  steamboat  basin  gave  it  considerable  trade, 
particularly  the  important  grain  trade  which  had  gone  previously  to  Peru. 
A  large  warehouse  and  grist  mill,  erected  on  the  canal  in  1848,  formed  the 
nucleus  about  which  La  Salle 's  later  commercial  and  industrial  interests 
developed. 


^Mitchell,    Illinois  in    1837,    p.    135. 

B6Kett,   Past  and  present  of  La  Salle  County,  p.  307. 


SETTLEMENT  AND  DEVELOPMENT  177 

Utica,  a  village  originally  laid  out  on  the  river  a  mile  south  of  the  pres- 
ent site,  is  said  to  have  been  supported  by  river  trade  before  the  canal 
opened.  Utica  hoped  to  secure  the  terminus  of  the  canal,  and  its  supporters 
charged  that  the  terminus  was  placed  at  Peru  because  in  the  Legislature 
the  deciding  vote  by  which  the  passage  of  the  canal  act  was  secured,  be- 
longed to  a  representative  from  Peru.  The  true  reason  probably  is  to  be 
found  in  the  difficulty  of  navigating  Illinois  River  above  the  mouth  of  the 
Vermilion  rivers  during  low  water.  When  the  canal  was  laid  out  along 
the  base  of  the  bluffs,  a  mile  north  of  the  old  village,  the  latter  was  doomed. 
In  1852  North  Utica  was  founded  on  the  canal,  and  the  old  village  was 
abandoned.  The  first  hydraulic  cement  manufactured  at  Utica  was  used 
in  the  construction  of  the  canal. 

Ottawa  was  begun  south  of  the  river  in  1830  and  is  now  called  South 
Ottawa.  The  first  settlement  north  of  the  river,  now  the  city  of  Ottawa, 
was  made  in  1837  when  work  was  begun  on  the  canal.  Ottawa  always  has 
been  dependent  largely  on  the  rural  trade  of  La  Salle  County  and  controlled 
an  even  greater  share  of  this  trade  before  the  building  of  the  railroads  than 
it  does  now.  "Before  the  building  of  the  railroads,  as  a  grain  market  it 
probably  was  not  surpassed  in  the  State,"  and  it  is  said  to  have  handled 
about  four  times  as  much  grain  in  the  fifties  as  in  the  seventies.97 

Marseilles  was  an  industrial  town  from  its  beginning,  and  depended 
on  the  water  power  furnished  by  the  rapids  of  the  Illinois.  In  1836  the 
Marseilles  Manufacturing  Company  was  chartered,  and  in  1837  a  crude 
log  dam  was  built  across  the  river.98  In  1841  a  sawmill  and  a  flouring  mill 
were  in  operation.  This  industrial  development  was  partly  in  anticipation 
of  the  commercial  advantages  which  it  was  hoped  the  canal  would  offer. 

Seneca  was  laid  out  by  Crotty,  in  the  year  of  the  completion  of  the 
canal,  and  was  known  for  years  as  the  village  of  Crotty.  Its  chief  support 
was  and  is  the  grain  trade.  It  shared  the  grain  trade  of  eastern  La  Salle 
County  with  Ottawa,  and  long  maintained  large  warehouses  on  the  canal. 

Morris.  Grundy  County  was  organized  out  of  La  Salle  County  in 
1841.  By  the  provisions  of  the  act  creating  the  new  county,  the  county 
seat  was  to  be  located  on  a  section  of  the  canal  land,  halfway  between  the 
eastern  and  the  western  limits  of  the  county.99  The  town  grew  slowly  dur- 
ing its  first  few  years,  due  to  the  financial  depression.  In  1841  it  is  said 
to  have  consisted  of  two  or  three  log  buildings,  a  frame  store,  a  small  pub- 
lic house,  and  a  few  laborers'  cabins.100  Upon  the  completion  of  the  canal 
several  warehouses  were  erected,  and  by  1850  the  town  had  a  population 
of  more  than  500.101 


""Baldwin,  E.,  History  of  La  Salle  County,   p.   225,    1877. 
9SKeyes,   Directory  of  La  Salle   County,   p.    126,    1872. 
^Armstrong,   Address  at  Old  Settlers'   Reunion,  Morris,    1876. 
lm,Turner,   E.   B.,    Reminiscences  of  Morris,    1855. 
10,Baskin,  History  of  Grundy  County,   p.    108. 


178  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

CliannaJion  was  laid  out  as  a  village  in  1845,  although  settlers  had 
located  on  the  site  a  dozen  years  earlier.102  During  canal  days,  the  vil- 
lage throve  splendidly:  the  Channahon  mills  did  a  large  business,  busy 
warehouses  lined  the  canal,  and  the  village  was  the  most  prosperous  place 
between  Joliet  and  Morris.  Channahon  controls  the  mouth  of  the  Dupage 
River,  and  lies  almost  opposite  the  junction  of  the  Kankakee  and  the  Des- 
plaines.  The  advantages  of  this  position  were  thought  to  assure  the  de- 
velopment of  a  thriving  city. 

It  is  noteworthy  that  because  the  canal  was  built  north  of  the  river 
the  principal  parts  of  all  the  cities  and  villages  in  the  valley  have  devel- 
oped north  of  the  river.  Ottawa,  for  example,  was  begun  south  of  the 
river,  but  the  settlement  which  was  laid  out  north  of  the  river  when  the 
canal  was  built  soon  outgrew  the  older  part  of  the  town. 

DECLINE  OP   THE   CANAL 

After  1865  the  tolls  of  the  canal  decreased  rapidly,  and  in  1882  its 
tonnage  began  also  to  decline.  Today  the  canal  is  unused,  except  by  occa- 
sional pleasure  craft.  It  went  under  in  competition  with  the  railroads. 
Some  of  these  railroads  secured  the  trade  previously  borne  on  Illinois 
River,  whose  commerce  had  helped  support  the  canal ;  one  paralleled  the 
canal  and  took  away  the  trade  of  the  very  land  which  once  had  belonged 
to  the  canal ;  and  others  were  built  on  the  prairie  at  no  great  distance  from 
the  valley. 

The  canal  could  not  survive  the  competition  of  the  railroads  for  sev- 
eral reasons: 

1.  Perhaps  the  greatest  reason  is  to  be  found  not  in  the  canal  itself, 
but  in  the  unsatisfactory  conditions  of  river  navigation,  (a)  Illinois  River 
was  subject  to  great  variation  in  flow.  Unfortunately,  also,  the  period  of 
lowest  water  during  several  years  in  the  fifties  and  sixties  occurred  in  the 
fall,  when  the  harvested  crops  were  waiting  to  be  shipped.  The  water  of 
the  river  was  often  so  low  in  summer  and  fall  as  to  make  navigation  im- 
possible in  many  places.  In  some  years  the  bars  built  into  the  sluggish 
main  by  its  tributaries  reduced  the  navigable  depth  to  18  inches,  or  even 
less.103  At  La  Salle  the  bankful  capacity  of  the  river  is  20,000  cubic  feet, 
yet  the  average  volume  of  water  before  the  drainage  flow  was  added  was 
2,820  cubic  feet,  or  less  than  one-seventh  of  the  capacity  of  the  channel. 
The  average  low  water  volume  was  796  cubic  feet,  or  about  two-sevenths  of 
the  normal  flow.  In  the  late  summer  and  fall  of  almost  every  year,  the 
river  proved  troublesome,  and  in  many  years  navigation  was  suspended  for 
months  at  a  time.     In  1853  the  river  was  so  low  as  to  be  nearly  useless  for 


-History  of  Will  County,    1878,  p.  592. 

,3Report  of  the  Canal  Commissioners,   1867,  p.  51. 


SETTLEMENT  AND  DEVELOPMENT 


179 


navigation  from  July  to  December,  or  during  five  months  of  the  nine  open 
to  navigation.  It  was  estimated  that  this  drought  reduced  the  tolls  of  the 
canal  almost  one-half  for  the  year.104  AVithout  the  traffic  brought  by  Illi- 
nois River,  the  canal  was  of  little  more  than  local  importance,  (b)  Steam- 
boat navigation  became  more  and  more  hazardous  as  competition  forced 
rival  boats  to  develop  greater  speed.  Fires  and  other  disasters  to  steam- 
boats became  notoriously  common,  and  insurance  charges  were  raised  to 
almost  prohibitive  rates  on  consignments  shipped  by  steamboats,  (c)  Much 
of  the  river  trade  was  carried  on  by  wasteful  business  methods.  Most  of  the 
boats  were  independent  steamers,  which  ran  without  regard  to  one  another, 
and  without  definite  schedule.     They  plied  from  point  to  point  as  they 


Fig.  66 — Canal  boat  above  Morris,  a  relic  of  bygone  days. 

secured  a  cargo.  Freight  rates  were  unstable  and  dependent  in  part  on  the 
amount  of  competition  from  other  boats.  Similarly,  canal  traffic  and  river 
traffic  were  carried  on  largely  without  any  joint  tariffs. 

2.  The  canal  wTas  closed  every  winter  for  three  to  four  months.  Dur- 
ing almost  one-third  the  year  the  canal  brought  in  no  revenue,  and  during 
this  time  all  the  traffic  was  carried  by  the  railroads. 

3.  The  carrying  capacity  of  the  canal  was  limited ;  the  canal  was  built 
too  small  at  the  start,  and  as  the  region  developed  this  waterway  soon  be- 
came hopelessly  inadequate  for  the  transportation  needs  of  the  country  it 
served.    Its  minimum  draft  of  fifty-six  inches  and  locks  of  seventeen  and 


1<MDavidson,   Alexander,   and   Struve,   Bernard,  History  of  Illinois,  pp.    487-488. 


180  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

one-half  feet  length  limited  the  canalboats  to  a  carrying  capacity  of  a  little 
over  a  hundred  tons. 

4.  The  slowness  of  transportation  was  another  drawback.  Towage 
was  almost  entirely  by  animals,  the  locks  were  badly  crowded  and  delays 
were  frequent.  As  already  noted,  the  railroads  immediately  took  away 
from  the  canal  the  profitable  passenger  service  and  soon  also  the  higher- 
priced  fast  freight,  such  as  merchandise,  furniture,  and  perishable  produce, 
with  all  of  which  the  saving  of  time  meant  the  saving  of  money. 

5.  The  canal  could  not  compete  long  in  the  carriage  of  through 
freight.     This  was  because  most  of  the  goods  had  to  be  reshipped  at  the 


Fig.  67. — Locks  at  Channahon. 

termini  of  the  canal  from  steamer  to  canalboat  or  vice  versa.  In  boatload 
lots  freight  often  was  carried  through  by  river,  canal,  and  lake  to  its  des- 
tination. But  smaller  shipments  were  transferred  at  La  Salle  and  Chicago 
with  considerable  delay  and  expense.  The  railroads  avoided  this  trans- 
shipment, and  thereby  effected  a  saving. 

For  these  reasons  the  canal  crumbled  before  the  competition  of  the  rail- 
road. It  served  its  purpose  in  the  development  of  the  region,  and  having 
accomplished  that,  fell  into  decay  (fig.  66).  Today  it  is  a  relic  of  a  gener- 
ation that  is  gone.  With  the  melancholy  exception  of  Channahon  (fig.  67), 
the  region  has  continued  to  develop  without  the  canal.  Channahon  was 
avoided  by  railroads,  and  as  a  result  Minooka  ships  the  grain  from  the 


SETTLEMENT  AND  DEVELOPMENT  181 

region  formerly  tributary  to  Channahon.  In  Channahon,  grass  grows  in 
the  streets,  and  empty  houses  dream  of  the  days  when  the  canal  was  busy 
with  packets  and  barges. 

Railroad  Building 

original  project 

Agitation  for  railroads  began  in  Illinois  before  1830.  Scarcely  had  the 
feasibility  of  the  steam  railroad  been  demonstrated  before  enthusiasts  saw 
in  it  the  solution  of  the  transportation  problems  of  the  interior.  The  first 
railroad  projected  in  Illinois  was  to  be  a  substitute  for  the  Illinois  and 
Michigan  Canal  and  was  proposed  by  the  canal  commissioners  in  1833.  A 
few  years  later  mushroom  projects  covered  the  State  with  prospective  rail- 
roads. Many  of  these  were  included  in  the  internal  improvement  plan  of 
the  State.  Among  them  was  a  road  to  be  constructed  from  the  mouth  of 
the  canal  to  the  mouth  of  Ohio  River,  to  be  known  as  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad,  so  designated  because  it  was  to  run  north  and  south  through  the 
middle  of  the  State.  Two  other  roads,  running  east  and  west,  were  to 
intersect  the  north-south  road,  and  were  to  be  called  Northern  and  South- 
ern Cross  Roads.  It  was  planned  to  supply  all  sections  of  the  State  with 
railroads  whether  they  were  needed  or  not. 

ILLINOIS   CENTRAL   RAILROAD 

The  crisis  of  the  late  thirties  prevented  the  completion  of  these  plans, 
but  the  idea  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  was  revived  after  financial 
conditions  had  again  improved  in  the  State.  In  1850  Congress  granted 
2,005,095  acres  to  the  State,  which  the  latter  in  turn  donated  to  a  company 
organized  to  build  a  railroad  from  Cairo  to  La  Salle,  with  branches  to 
Chicago  and  Galena.105  This  grant  gave  to  the  railroad  a  right-of-way  of 
two  hundred  feet  and  title  to  every  alternate  even-numbered  section  lying 
within  six  miles  of  the  trunk  road  or  its  branches.  For  lands  already  occu- 
pied at  the  time  the  grant  was  made,  the  deficiency  was  to  be  made  up  from 
the  unoccupied  even  sections  within  fifteen  miles  of  the  railroad.  It  is  said 
that  because  of  this  grant  the  road  was  laid  out  where  there  was  the  largest 
amount  of  vacant  land.106  For  some  years  the  lands  granted  to  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad  were  a  far  more  important  source  of  revenue  than  the 
earnings  of  the  traffic.  The  road  was  chartered  in  1851,  and  opened  dur- 
ing the  winter  of  1854-55.  At  LaSalle  the  Illinois  Valley  was  spanned  in 
its  entire  width  by  a  high  bridge,  an  extraordinary  feat  for  that  day;  the 
structure  required  two  years  for  its  completion.107  The  Galena  branch  was 
completed  in  the  summer  of  1855,  and  the  Chicago  branch  a  year  later. 


lor,Ackerman,   W.  K.,   Early  Illinois  railroads,  p.   35. 
106Davidson  and  Struve,  History  of  Illinois,  p.  573. 
107Kett,  Past  and  present  of  La  Salle  County,  p.   198. 


182 


UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 


Figure  68  shows  the  original  main  line  of  the  Illinois  Central  with  its 
extension  to  Galena.  As  a  whole,  this  line  for  which  so  much  had  been 
hoped  is  no  longer  one  of  the  important  trunks  of  the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
road. Its  most  important  line  now  runs  from  Chicago  southward  to  Cairo, 
via  Mattoon  and  Centralia.    The  old  main  line  from  Centralia  to  Cairo  has 


THE  NORTHWEST 


CHICAGO 


v**** 


Fig.  68. — Map  showing  the  Illinois  Central  system  in  Illinois. 


been  incorporated  into  the  line  from  Chicago  to  the  Gulf.  The  main  line 
west  from  Chicago  utilizes  that  part  of  the  original  trunk  line  lying  be- 
tween Freeport  and  Galena.  The  St.  Louis-Cairo  line  joins  the  old  main 
line  at  Carbondale.  From  Freeport  to  Centralia,  including  that  part  lying 
in  La  Salle  County,  the  former  main  line  is  merely  a  feeder  for  the  present 


SETTLEMENT  AND  DEVELOPMENT  183 

trunk  lines  of  the  Illinois  Central.  Considerable  freight  is  carried  on  it, 
but  only  local  passenger  service  is  maintained.  The  original  Illinois  Cen- 
tral Railroad  was  built  without  reference  cither  to  the  direction  which  trade 
then  took,  or  to  the  future  likelihood  of  trade.  There  was  no  particular 
need  for  a  road  north  and  south  through  the  middle  of  the  State ;  the  road 
bisected  the  State  with  mathematical  neatness,  but  it  rested  on  no  adequate 
geographic  basis,  and  lacking  geographic  justification  it  had  to  build  addi- 
tional lines  which  followed  commercial  opportunities  and  not  geometrical 
plans. 

CHICAGO,  ROCK  ISLAND  AND  PACIFIC  RAILROAD 

This  road  follows  the  Illinois  River  to  the  "Great  Bend"  and  then 
strikes  west  across  the  prairies  by  way  of  the  valley  of  Bureau  Creek.  It 
was  the  first  road  built  in  this  region,  and  has  been  of  greater  importance 
in  the  development  of  the  upper  valley  than  any  other.  The  road  was  char- 
tered in  1850  as  the  Rock  Island  and  La  Salle  Railroad,  to  be  built  between 
the  two  cities  named.  Shortly  afterward,  a  continuation  was  authorized 
to  parallel  the  Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal,  "thus  making  a  continuous 
line  of  railway  from  the  city  of  Chicago  to  the  head  of  navigation  on  the 
Illinois ;  thence  to  the  city  of  Rock  Island  at  the  foot  of  the  upper  rapids 
of  the  Mississippi,  now  generally  known  as  the  only  feasible  point  where 
that  stream  can  be  bridged  from  its  mouth  to  the  falls  of  St.  Anthony."108 
The  construction  of  the  road  was  pushed  vigorously,  and  it  was  opened  in 
January,  1853,  to  Morris;  in  February  to  Ottawa;  and  a  month  later  to 
La  Salle.  The  passenger  rate  of  four  cents  per  mile  charged  by  the  packet 
boats  was  cut  by  the  railroad,  and  the  time  of  transportation  was  reduced 
to  one-fifth  of  that  formerly  required.  It  was  the  competition  of  the  Rock 
Island  Railroad,  more  than  that  of  any  other,  which  caused  the  ruin  of  the 
Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal,  and  this  road  has  continued  to  carry  most  of 
the  commerce  of  the  upper  valley  to  the  present  day. 

CHICAGO,   BURLINGTON   AND   QUINCY   RAILROAD 

The  Burlington  is  another  road  which  was  built  west  from  Chicago  in 
the  early  fifties  and  which  helped  to  make  Chicago  the  great  gateway  to  the 
interior.  It  was  built  far  enough  to  the  north  of  the  Illinois  to  avoid  bridg- 
ing the  deep  lower  tributaries  of  that  river.  It  is  essentially  a  prairie  road. 
Service  to  Mendota  was  begun  in  1854. 

From  1850  on  there  was  considerable  agitation  in  La  Salle  County  for 
a  railroad  which  would  develop  the  water  powers  of  Fox  Valley.  In  1852 
the  Ottawa,  Oswego,  and  Fox  River  Valley  Railroad  was  chartered,  but  no 
work  was  done.     In  1866  the  company  was  reorganized,  and  in  1871  the 


108President's  Report,  December,    1851,  in  History  of  La  Salle  County,  p.  424,    1886. 


184  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

road  was  completed  from  Sheridan  to  Streator.  Along  this  new  railroad  a 
number  of  villages  sprang  up,  such  as  Sheridan  and  Grand  Ridge,  which 
are  trading  centers  for  limited  farming  districts.  The  road  is  now  the 
Fox  River  branch  of  the  Chicago,  Burlington  and  Quincy  Railroad. 

OTHER  RAILROADS 

In  1885  a  branch  of  the  Chicago  and  North  Western  Railroad  was 
built  to  Spring  Creek.  The  North  "Western  has  many  lines  extending 
through  Wisconsin,  upper  Michigan,  Minnesota,  and  the  northwest,  regions 
of  great  resources,  but  generally  lacking  in  coal.  The  coal  mines  of  Bureau 
and  La  Salle  counties  are  the  northernmost  producers  in  Illinois  and  there- 
fore conveniently  situated  to  much  of  the  territory  traversed  by  the  North 
Western  Railroad.  It  was  to  secure  coal  especially  for  its  Wisconsin  and 
Minnesota  territory  that  the  North  Western  laid  this  branch  to  Spring 
Creek  and  there  built  the  coal-mining  city  of  Spring  Valley.  In  1912  this 
road  shipped  out  of  Bureau  County  974,920  tons  of  coal.109. 

In  1905  the  Chicago,  Milwaukee  and  St.  Paul  Railroad,  with  a  network 
of  roads  in  a  territory  similarly  deficient  in  coal,  also  built  a  line  south- 
ward into  Bureau  and  La  Salle  counties.  In  1906  the  shaft  at  Cherry  was 
opened,  and  in  1907  it  extended  its  road  from  Granville  to  Oglesby,  cross- 
ing the  river  on  the  tracks  of  the  C.  I.  &  S.  R.  R.  The  St.  Paul  Railroad 
thus  opened  a  new  mining  district  in  La  Salle  County  south  of  the  river, 
and  also  secured  access  to  the  Portland  cement  district  at  Oglesby.  This 
railroad  is  the  heaviest  carrier  of  coal  in  the  region,  having  shipped 
1,427,786  tons  in  1912.110. 

The  other  railroads  within  the  region  are  Elgin,  Joliet,  and  Eastern 
Railroad,  an  outer  belt  freight  line  for  Chicago,  which  crosses  the  Illinois 
near  its  head,  and  penetrates  the  coal  district  of  southern  Grundy  County. 
This  road  was  built  into  this  section  chiefly  to  gain  access  to  the  Coal  City 
mining  region,  and  ranked  third  in  1912  in  its  shipments  of  coal,  with  a 
tonnage  of  420,961  from  Grundy  County.111 

Kankakee  and  Seneca  Railroad  built  without  apparent  justification, 
transfers  some  freight  from  the  Rock  Island  Railroad  to  New  York  Central 
Lines ;  La  Salle  and  Bureau  County  Railroad  is  a  short  freight  road  which 
connects  the  smelters  at  La  Salle  with  the  Burlington  and  North  Western 
roads;  Chicago,  Indiana  and  Southern  Railroad  was  built  west  into  the 
mining  and  manufacturing  section  of  Bureau  County  and  taps  a  long  line 
of  railroads  west  and  south  of  Chicago  for  the  eastern  traffic  of  the  New 

109Illinois  Coal  Report,  1912,  p.  78. 
110Idem,  p.  78. 
luIdem,  p.  80. 


SETTLEMENT  AND  DEVELOPMENT  185 

York  Central  Lines ;  Depue  and  Northern  Railroad  is  an  unimportant  line 
for  the  transfer  of  smelter  freight. 

PERIODS  OF  CONSTRUCTION 

The  greatest  period  of  railroad  building  in  this  State  was  the  decade 
1S50  to  1860.  In  1851  there  were  in  operation  116  miles  of  railroad  in  Illi- 
nois ;  in  1855  there  were  887 ;  in  1860  there  were  2,790 ;  in  1865  there 
were  3,157 ;  and  in  1868  there  were  3,440  miles.  In  the  upper  Illinois 
Valley  more  railroads  were  built  between  1852  than  at  any  other  time. 
After  1853  the  great  prairies  were  speedily  cut  into  strips  by  road  after 
road  that  crosses  the  unsettled  parts  of  the  State.  Locally,  a  second  period 
of  active  construction  occurred  between  1900  and  1910  when  the  mining  and 
manufacturing  interests  of  eastern  Bureau  and  western  La  Salle  counties 
attracted  a  number  of  roads. 

INFLUENCE    OF    RAILROADS    ON    DEVELOPMENT 

The  nearly  level  surface  of  much  of  Illinois  has  favored  the  construc- 
tion of  railroads  and  has  helped  greatly  to  give  the  State  first  rank  in  rail- 
road mileage.  The  railroad,  operating  throughout  the  year  and  providing 
rapid  and  cheap  transportation,  has  solved  the  transportation  problem  of 
the  interior,  and  permitted  the  development  of  regions  inaccessible  by  water 
routes.  The  services  of  the  railroad  to  this  region  may  be  summarized 
under  three  heads : 

1.  It  made  practicable  the  settlement  of  the  large  prairies  of  northern 
Illinois.  The  resources  of  the  prairie  were  known  long  before  railroads  were 
built  across  them,  but  the  lack  of  timber  and  transportation  facilities  had 
prevented  their  settlement.  In  La  Salle  County  the  central  townships,  situ- 
ated near  the  river  and  canal  were  well  settled  by  1845,  whereas  the  north- 
ern and  southern  tiers  of  townships,  remote  from  these  waterways,  were 
still  largely  vacant  in  1850.  Of  the  two  southern  townships,  Groveland  and 
Osage,  it  is  related  that  La  Salle  County  took  them  because  Marshall  and 
Livingston  counties  were  unwilling  to  do  so,  and  that  in  1855  Groveland 
Township  "was  unbroken  prairie,  without  an  inhabitant."112  In  1850  the 
prairies  of  Bureau  County  were  still  largely  vacant,  the  settlements  being 
near  belts  of  timber.  By  1854  (after  two  railroads  had  crossed  it),  all  the 
land  in  the  county  was  taken  up.113  The  growth  of  the  population  through- 
out this  region  during  the  decade  1850  to  1860  is  shown  by  Table  6. 
Nearly  all  the  prairie  region  north  of  Illinois  River  was  settled  in 
this  decade,  due  largely  to  the  railroads.  The  railroads  provided  (a) 
markets  for  farm  produce,  (b)  lumber  for  buildings  and  fences,  and  (c) 


111!Baldwin,  E.,  History  of  La  Salle  County,  p.  468,   1877. 
113Matson,  Nehemiah,   Voters  and  tax-payers  of  Bureau.  County. 


186  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

coal  for  fuel.    As  a  result,  the  prairie  region  began  to  set  the  pace  for  the 
country  in  agricultural  production.114 

2.  The  opening  up  of  millions  of  acres  of  virgin  soil  of  great  fertility 
attracted  many  immigrants  to  the  State.  Many  native  Americans  still 
came  from  the  eastern  states,  lured  by  the  advertisements  of  the  real  estate 
offices  of  the  railroads.  In  this  period  also,  a  great  stream  of  European 
emigration  began  to  pour  into  our  country,  and  many  of  these  people  set- 
tled on  the  prairies.  Over-population  pressed  hard  at  that  time  upon  the 
poorer  classes  of  various  European  lands,  political  troubles  were  wide- 
spread, and  labor  difficulties  and  crop  failures  crowded  out  many  trades- 
men, laborers,  and  farmers.  These  people  were  from  northern  Europe — 
German,  English,  Irish,  French,  Dutch,  Scandinavian,  and  Flemish.  Most 
of  the  Irish  became  laborers,  but  the  majority  of  the  other  races  turned  to 
farming,  continuing  the  life  to  which  they  had  been  brought  up  in  their 
native  land.  When  these  immigrants  came,  the  good  lands  of  the  East 
had  been  occupied,  and  they  were  forced  to  turn  westward  to  secure  cheap 
lands.  Immigration  continued  until  in  many  places  the  foreign  outnum- 
bered the  native  settlers.  In  1900  one-half  to  three-fourths  of  the  total 
population  of  La  Salle  and  Bureau  counties  were  born  of  foreign  parents, 
largely  the  descendants  of  these  agricultural  immigrants  who  came  after 
the  middle  of  the  last  century.  In  1870  the  following  proportions  held  in 
a  number  of  townships  in  Bureau  County:115 

Native-born     Foreign-born 

Hall  Township    744  315 

Westfield  Township   418  978 

Clarion  Township 267  756 

Selby  Township 388  1109 

La  Moille  Township 197  36 

Berlin  Township 189  42 

Most  of  the  foreigners  who  came  at  this  time  were  Germans.  Some- 
what later  many  Scandinavians  came  to  Grundy  and  La  Salle  counties. 
These  people  have  all  been  assimilated  long  since  and  have  formed  a  valu- 
able addition  to  the  blood  and  wealth  of  the  region. 

3.  The  railroads  have  facilitated  the  development  of  the  mineral  re- 
sources of  the  region  and  stimulated  the  growth  of  its  industries,  as  sketched 
in  the  next  section. 


^Baldwin,  E.,  History  of  La  Salle  County,  p.  210,  1877:  "The  cheap  transportation  of 
lumber  has  enabled  the  settlers  to  build  and  fence  away  from  the  timber,  and  independent  of  the 
groves  so  eagerly  sought  for  in  the  early  settlements.  The  prairie  towns  on  the  outskirts  of  the 
county  have  rapidly  settled,  and  experience  has  proved  that  there  is  no  valid  objection  to  the 
settlement  of  the  largest  prairies  when  lumber  can  be  obtained  for  building  and  fencing,  and 
coal  for  fuel." 

115Summarized  from  Voters  and  tax-payers  of  Bureau  County,  p.   172,   1876. 


SETTLEMENT  AND  DEVELOPMENT  187 

Mining  and  Manufacturing 

Industries110  have  developed  in  this  region  chiefly  because  it  is  pro- 
vided with  two  sources  of  mechanical  energy — water  power  and  coal.  The 
earliest  industries  depended  on  water  power,  the  later  industrial  expansion 
has  been  due  chiefly  to  the  use  of  coal.  After  the  rich  soils  of  the  region, 
coal  probably  has  been  the  most  important  factor  in  its  growth  of  popu- 
lation. 

COAL   MINING 

The  development  of  coal  mining  in  the  upper  valley  has  been  affected 
by  a  number  of  conditions :  ( 1 )  The  occurrence  of  the  coal  beds  is  related 
to  the  La  Salle  anticline.  Upon  the  crest  of  the  anticline  coal  is  wanting. 
(a)  East  of  the  anticline  is  the  coal-mining  district  of  southern  Grundy 
County,  including  the  numerous  mines  in  Braceville,  Felix,  and  Greenfield 
townships.  From  Morris  westward  the  coal  beds  become  fewer  and  poorer 
as  they  rise  on  the  anticline.  At  Morris,  coal  is  reached  in  shallow  shafts, 
at  Marseilles  in  drifts  driven  into  the  sides  of  the  valley,  and  at  Ottawa 
much  weathered  coal  lies  exposed  at  the  surface  in  the  valley.  With  the 
exception  of  eastern  Grundy  County  the  coal  east  of  the  anticline  is  found 
only  in  thin  beds  and  has  little  commercial  value,  (b)  West  of  the  anti- 
cline the  "Coal  Measures"  are  carried  underground  rapidly  by  the  steep 
dip  of  the  western  flank  of  the  fold.  They  are  much  thicker  than  east  of 
the  anticline,  and  the  number  of  coal  beds  is  greater.  West  of  the  Vermil- 
ion rivers  from  four  to  five  coal  seams  are  encountered  in  all  deep  borings. 
The  second  bed  above  the  base  of  the  series  (the  so-called  Third  Vein  coal) 
is  worked  most  extensively  and  averages  three  feet  thick.  One  hundred  and 
forty  feet  on  the  average  above  it  lies  Coal  No.  5  (Second  Vein),  and  40  feet 
higher  is  bed  No.  7  (First  Vein)  ;  both  of  these  have  a  thickness  about  equal 
to  that  of  the  Third  Vein,  and  have  been  mined  to  some  extent.  The  coal 
beds  lie  much  deeper  west  of  the  fold  than  they  do  east  of  it,  and  are 
reached  by  shafts  three  to  four  hundred  feet  deep.  (2)  The  coal  is  un- 
usually good  for  the  central  region.  The  Third  Vein  coal  is  a  high-grade 
block  coal,  and  brings  top  prices  for  steaming  purposes.  (3)  The  location 
of  this  area  at  the  northern  end  of  the  Illinois  coal  basin  has  favored  its 
exploitation,  (a)  because  it  makes  mining  possible  at  lesser  depths  than 
farther  south  toward  the  center  of  the  basin,  and  (b)  the  coal  is  in  an 
advantageous  position  to  supply  the  regions  farther  north  (4)  The  excel- 
lent transportation  facilities,  and  especially  the  low  rates  east  and  west 
along  the  river  and  canal,  have  favored  its  shipment  to  relatively  distant 
points.  The  markets  to  which  the  coal  is  shipped  are  (a)  the  northern 
region,  (b)  the  prairie  region  to  the  west,  and  (c)  the  great  market  in 
nearbv  Chicago. 


""Statistics,  unless  otherwise   acknowledged,  are  from  the  13th  Census. 


188  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

Coal  was  first  used  by  the  Indian  and  the  French  adventurer.  Mar- 
quette and  Joliet  noted  in  1673  the  occurrence  of  coal  along  the  valley. 
Joutel  in  his  journal  of  1687  described  coal  exposed  on  the  slopes  of  Illinois 
Valley.  Later,  the  pioneer  farmer  found  a  valuable  resource  in  the  mineral 
fuel  which  he  dug  out  of  the  valley  sides.  The  earliest  coal  mining  con- 
sisted  merely  in  working  outcropping  banks;  this  was  done  along  the 
western  flank  of  the  anticline  near  Split  Rock  and  on  the  Big  Vermilion, 
especially  at  Lowell.  About  Ottawa  surface  coal  was  dug  for  years  in  suf- 
ficient amount  to  supply  local  demands.  In  1853  a  boring  was  made  at 
La  Salle  on  the  bottoms  south  of  the  canal,  and  in  1855  the  first  shaft  was 
put  into  commission.117  With  this  date  begins  the  commercial  exploitation 
of  the  coal  resources  of  the  region.  The  upper  Illinois  Valley  district  is 
producing  at  present  an  aggregate  of  five  million  tons  of  coal  annually. 
The  quantity  of  coal  mined  from  1881  to  1907  is  as  follows :  La  Salle 
County,  38,493,630  tons;  Bureau  County,  25,011,119  tons;  Grundy  County, 
27,112,051  tons.  In  1912  Bureau  County  produced  1,681,103  tons  from 
13  mines;  La  Salle,  1,605,482  from  36  mines;  Grundy,  756,388  from  13 
mines;   and  the  two  new  mines  of  Putnam  County,  716,531  tons.118 

The  growth  of  the  cities  and  villages  of  southeastern  Grundy  and 
southwestern  Will  counties  has  been  due  almost  entirely  to  the  development 
of  coal  mining.  The  mines  along  the  C.  &  A.  R.  R.  had  developed  into 
coal-mining  towns  of  some  importance  by  1880.  In  the  decade  1880  to  1890 
Braceville  increased  more  than  eight-fold  in  population  and  attained  second 
rank  in  the  county.  In  that  decade  mines  on  the  Santa  Fe  Railroad  also 
were  developed.  In  1880  there  was  no  Coal  City;  in  1890  it  had  1,672 
inhabitants,  and  in  the  next  twenty  years  another  thousand  were  added. 
Since  1890  numerous  other  shafts  have  been  sunk  in  Grundy  County,  and 
villages  have  sprung  up  with  great  rapidity.  South  Wilmington  grew  to 
a  village  of  2,500,  Carbon  Hill  secured  1,200  inhabitants  in  less  than  ten 
years,  and  Eileen  and  East  Brooklyn  have  sprung  up  in  the  last  decade. 
With  the  exception  of  Coal  City,  the  older  coal-mining  towns  have  lost  part 
of  their  population  as  their  mines  have  become  less  productive.  Braceville 
has  less  than  half  of  its  population  of  1890 ;  Central  City,  Diamond,  God- 
ley,  Carbon  Hill,  and  Gardener  all  have  lost  steadily  in  the  last  decade. 
The  prosperity  of  such  towns  is  brief;  they  are  called  into  existence  by 
coal  mining,  commonly  develop  no  other  permanent  interests,  and  as  the 
mines  are  worked  out  the  miners  gradually  move  away  and  the  towns  decay. 

In  La  Salle  County  coal  mining  has  not  created  new  towns  so  much  as 
it  has  stimulated  the  growth  of  places  already  established.  The  earliest  coal 
mining  of  importance  in  the  upper  valley  was  at  La  Salle  and  Peru,  and 
the  steady  growth  of  these  cities  has  been  based  on  the  use  of  their  coal  for 

117Kett,  Past  and  present  of  La  Salle  County,  p.  301. 

118Illinois    Coal   Report,    1912,    pp.    68-69.      In    this   year    there   were    12    mines    producing    in 
excess  of  150,000  tons  each. 


SETTLEMENT  AND  DEVELOPMENT  1S9 

power  in  a  variety  of  industries.  Later  came  the  development  of  Streator, 
the  greatest  coal-mining  city  in  the  region.  In  1870,  Streator  was  barely 
in  existence;  by  1890  it  was  the  largest  city  in  the  county,  with  11,414  in- 
habitants. It  holds  this  place  still,  but  appears  to  have  developed  its  mines 
about  to  full  capacity.  Kangley  is  a  mining  town  near  Streator,  which  has 
lost  two-thirds  of  its  population  in  the  last  decade.  In  1907  the  St.  Paul 
Railroad  was  built  from  Granville  to  Portland,  and  a  shaft  sunk  near  Cedar 
Creek.  About  this  shaft  has  grown  the  village  of  Cedar  Point  with  a  popu- 
lation of  500  in  its  second  year.  This  settlement  illustrates  the  latest  de- 
velopment in  the  upper  valley — coal  mining  in  the  prairies.  Vast  dump 
heaps  are  being  reared  here  and  there  on  the  prairie,  where  a  few  years 
ago  lay  plowed  fields. 

In  Bureau  County,  Hall  Township  includes  the  majority  of  the  coal 
mines.  In  1883  this  township  had  a  population  of  1,058;  in  1884  the  first 
shaft  was  sunk  at  Spring  Valley;  the  next  year  shaft  No.  3  was  put  in 
operation,  and  the  tracks  of  the  North  Western  Railroad  were  completed. 
Somewhat  later  a  shaft  was  sunk  at  Seatonville,  and  in  1890  another  at 
Ladd;  in  this  year  the  population  of  the  township  was  5,683.  In  1900 
Spring  Valley  had  6,214  inhabitants,  and  Ladd  1,324.  In  1899  the  shaft 
at  Dalzell  was  opened,  and  at  the  same  time  coal  mining  was  begun  at 
Marquette.  In  1910  the  township  had  a  population  of  12,493,  or  twelve 
times  its  population  of  1880.  This  growth  is  due  entirely  to  coal  mining; 
outside  of  the  mining  towns  the  population  has  decreased  gradually. 
Cherry  village,  in  Arlington  Township,  was  settled  in  1905  and  still  had  a 
population  of  more  than  a  thousand  after  the  great  disaster.  In  Putnam 
County,  Granville  Township  shows  a  similar  growth.  Granville  was  a  vil- 
lage of  about  three  hundred  inhabitants  in  1904,  when  the  first  shaft  was 
sunk.  In  five  years  it  added  more  than  a  thousand  people,  and  close  at 
hand  the  villages  of  Mark  and  Standard  duplicated  its  growth. 

MANUFACTURING 

DEVELOPMENT 

The  growth  of  industries  in  the  region  is  due  chiefly  to  (1)  its  raw 
materials,  (2)  the  increase  of  population  which  created  local  markets  for 
certain  manufacturers  and  provided  labor,  (3)  the  construction  of  rail- 
roads, which  made  more  distant  markets  accessible,  and  (4)  the  develop- 
ment of  coal  mining,  which  provided  a  cheap  and  efficient  source  of  power. 
The  growth  of  population  in  the  upper  Illinois  Valley  during  the  last  four 
decades  has  been  virtually  confined  to  a  growth  of  the  population  engaged 
in  mining  and  manufacturing.  The  manufactures  may  be  grouped  in  three 
classes:  (1)  Manufactures  dependent  on  geographic  advantages,  such  as 
raw  materials,  or  power,  or  both.    To  this  class  belong  the  most  important 


190  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

industries  of  the  region:  zinc  smelting  and  refining,  the  manufacture  of 
agricultural  implements,  glass,  paper,  cement,  and  fire  brick.  These  articles 
are  produced  chiefly  for  markets  outside  the  region.  (2)  Industries  de- 
veloped through  highly  specialized  skilled  labor.  These  depend  on  per- 
sistent individual  initiative,  not  on  local  advantages.  Among  such  indus- 
tries are  the  manufacture  of  clocks  and  musical  instruments.  (3)  Certain 
industries  developed  to  supply  local  demands.  Such  are  the  brewing  of 
malted  liquors,  cigar  making,  and  printing  and  publishing.  These  also  are 
not  based  on  any  particular  geographic  advantage,  but  are  an  expression 
of  the  density  of  population. 

In  the  history  of  industry  in  the  upper  Illinois  Valley  water  power 
played  the  leading  role  at  first;  the  later  development  is  due  to  the  use 
of  coal.  The  first  industries  of  the  region  were  carried  on  along  Fox  River. 
The  newspapers  of  the  early  fifties  viewed  the  Fox  Valley  "with  a  prophetic 
eye,"  as  the  busy  center  of  manufactures  in  this  section.  Dayton,  on  the 
lower  Fox  River,  secured  several  mills  before  sites  had  been  laid  out  for 
most  of  the  present  cities  of  the  region.  In  1834  it  had  a  flour  mill,  a  saw 
mill,  tannery,  and  numerous  other  establishments.119  In  1842  the  Pioneer 
Woolen  Mills  were  built  at  Dayton,  and  are  said  to  have  introduced  the 
power  loom  to  this  State.120  This  plant  was  enlarged  considerably  in  1864. 
In  1876  a  paper  mill  was  added,  with  a  daily  output  of  two  tons.121  Since 
then  the  dam  has  been  destroyed,  and  all  that  remains  of  Dayton  and  its 
industries  is  the  walls  of  the  ruined  mills,  and  a  few  houses. 

Coal  was  used  for  local  manufactures  after  the  first  shaft  was  sunk  at 
La  Salle  in  1855.  In  1858  a  zinc  smelter  and  refinery  was  built  at  La  Salle, 
and  this  industry  marks  the  beginning  of  permanent  industries  in  the 
region.  In  1880  the  value  of  manufactures  in  the  three  counties  of  the 
upper  valley  was  $6,677,856,  distributed  as  follows:  La  Salle  County, 
$5,647,142;  Bureau  County,  $560,708;  Grundy  County,  $470,006.  Dur- 
ing the  next  decade  their  value  increased  34  per  cent,  the  total  for  La  Salle 
County  being  $7,821,617;  for  Bureau  County,  $703,847;  and  for  Grundy 
County,  $447,568.  In  this  decade  the  number  of  employes  in  the  manu- 
facturing industries  of  the  three  counties  increased  from  3,910  to  6,285. 122 
In  1909  the  industries  of  La  Salle  and  Streator  alone  were  almost  equal 
to  the  industries  of  La  Salle  County  in  1890. 

DISTRIBUTION    OF   INDUSTRIES 

The  western  half  of  the  upper  valley  has  become  of  increasing  import- 
ance in  manufacturing,  because  of  its  superior  supply  of  coal.  La  Salle, 
Peru,  Streator,  Portland,  and  Depue  all  are  dependent  largely  on  manu- 


"sBaldwin,   E.,  History  of  La  Salle  County,    p.   266,    1877. 

""Keyes,  Directory  of  La  Salle  County,  Introduction. 

mKett,  Past  and  present  of  La  Salle  County,  p.  334. 

^Tenth  Census,   vol.   2,   and  Eleventh   Census,    Report  on  manufacturing  industries,   Part   1. 


SETTLEMENT  AND  DEVELOPMENT  191 

factoring  industries.  In  the  eastern  half  of  the  region,  on  the  other  hand, 
agricultural  interests  always  have  predominated,  and  only  Ottawa  and 
Marseilles  have  extensive  manufactures.  A  short  summary  of  the  leading 
industries  of  the  various  cities  is  given  below : 

1.  The  two  principal  industries  of  Morris  are  the  tanning  of  leather 
and  the  manufacture  of  hardware.  They  give  employment  to  about  400 
people.  The  tannery  was  established  in  1850,  and  has  been  built  up  by 
the  development  of  a  local  supply  of  skilled  labor. 

2.  Marseilles  is  the  only  city  in  the  region  which  now  employs  water 
power.  It  was  built  about  the  rapids  of  the  Illinois,  and  coal  is  used  only 
in  flood  times  and  for  auxiliary  purposes,  as  in  the  drying  of  paper.  The 
industries  of  Marseilles  date  back  to  1868,  when  a  masonry  dam  was  built 
across  the  Illinois.  A  paper  mill  was  established  in  the  same  year,  and 
three  others  have  been  added  since,  giving  employment  to  about  500  men. 
In  1868  the  manufacture  of  agricultural  machinery  also  was  begun,  and  by 
1910  had  grown  to  be  a  business  employing  more  than  250  men.  The  manu- 
facture of  agricultural  machinery  was  developed  because  of  (a)  local  con- 
trol of  a  number  of  inventions,  (b)  the  central  location  of  the  city  in  a 
great  farming  district,  and  (c)  cheap  water  power.  Marseilles  always  has 
derived  almost  its  entire  support  from  its  industries.  The  city  has  only 
a  small  foreign-born  population  and  depends  on  native  artisans  almost 
entirely. 

3.  Ottawa  in  1909  was  the  twenty-sixth  city  in  the  State  in  the  value 
of  its  manufactures.  Until  1875  it  used  water  power  chiefly  for  its  indus- 
tries. In  1858  "expensive  and  cumbrous  agricultural  implements,  such 
especially  as  reapers  and  wagons"  were  manufactured.123  At  that  time 
also  a  large  starch  factory  for  making  table  and  laundry  starch  w^as  in 
operation,  utilizing  some  of  the  corn  produced  so  abundantly  in  this  region. 
By  1872  flour,  cutlery,  and  plate  glass  had  become  important  products.  In 
1877  glass  and  agricultural  implements  (corn  cultivators  and  corn  shellers) 
wrere  of  about  equal  value.124  In  1880  glass  was  the  most  valuable  product 
of  the  city,  other  leading  products  being  agricultural  implements,  wagons, 
starch,  and  flour.125  When  the  natural  gas  fields  in  Indiana  were  opened, 
the  glass  industry  was  moved  away  from  Ottawa  to  this  new  region  of  cheap 
and  superior  fuel.  A  few  years  ago  the  plate  glass  industry  was  established 
at  Ottawa,  and  is  developing  rapidly.  The  leading  manufactures  of  Ot- 
tawa in  1909  were  glass,  pottery,  fire-clay  products,  agricultural  imple- 
ments, carriages,  and  pianos  with  a  total  value  of  $2,467,985.  The  manu- 
facture of  glass  and  brick  and  tile  depends  on  the  local  supply  of  glass 
sand  of  the  St.  Peter  formation,  and  the  fire  clays  of  the  lower  "Coal 


123La  Salle  County,  Directory,  p.  28,  1858. 

lzlBaldwin,   E.,   History  of  La  Salle   County,  p.   543,    1877. 

12rTenth  Census,  vol.  2. 


192  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

Measures."  The  St.  Peter  sand  is  quarried  at  numerous  points,  especially 
between  Ottawa  and  Utica  in  Illinois  Valley,  and  about  Wedron  on  Fox 
River.  Much  sand  is  mined  cheaply  about  Ottawa  by  hydraulic  methods. 
Most  of  the  sand  now  mined  at  Streator  and  Alton  is  shipped  to  factories 
in  Indiana.  The  glass-sand  industry  has  become  important  locally  because 
(a)  the  St.  Peter  sandstone  is  soft,  of  even  texture,  and  may  be  worked 
with  great  ease,  in  many  places  wick  pick  and  shovel;  (b)  the  sand  is  of 
the  highest  quality  for  the  manufacture  of  glass,  being  almost  pure  silica 
and  free  from  "loam;"  (c)  with  one  exception  this  is  the  only  commer- 
cial outcrop  of  this  sandstone  in  Illinois;  and  (d)  the  sandstone  occurs  in 
bluffs  along  the  railroad  lines  that  follow  the  Illinois  and  Fox  valleys  and 
is  loaded  directly  from  the  pits  into  the  cars.  The  decline  of  the  glass 
industry  at  Ottawa  has  been  due  solely  to  the  difficulty  of  securing  good 
fuel.  There  are  several  fire  brick,  tile,  terra  cotta,  and  pottery  establish- 
ments at  Ottawa,  which  work  clays  on  the  valley  terrace.  The  clay  is 
refractory  (can  withstand  a  high  degree  of  heat  without  melting),  is  plastic, 
and  can  be  worked  very  cheaply.  The  coal  which  is  associated  with  the 
clay  furnishes  most  of  the  fuel  for  its  firing. 

4.  Utica  began  the  manufacture  of  hydraulic  cement  while  the  canal 
was  being  built.  The  cement  is  made  from  certain  clayey  beds  of  the  Lower 
Magnesian  limestone.  In  1872  the  cement  mill  employed  300  men,  and  had 
a  capacity  of  150,000  barrels  annually.126  In  1877,  75,000  barrels  were 
made,  valued  at  $110,000/ 27  and  in  1880,  the  output  was  valued  at 
$93,000. 128  Since  that  time  the  output  has  decreased  steadily  and  rapidly, 
as  Portland  cement  has  come  into  successful  competition  with  the  older 
article.  Fire  clay  is  worked  about  Utica  for  the  manufacture  of  drain  tile, 
sewer  pipe,  and  fire  brick. 

5.  La  Salle  and  Peru  form  one  industrial  center,  divided  only  by 
arbitrary  corporate  limits.  Since  1858  the  smelting  and  refining  of  zinc  has 
been  the  dominant  industry  of  the  twin  cities.  In  1877  there  were  four 
plants  in  operation,  with  an  output  of  900,000  tons  of  spelter  (zinc)  an- 
nually, valued  at  about  $1,100,000.129  In  1880,  about  850  people  were 
employed  in  the  smelting  and  and  refining  of  zinc,  and  the  value  of  the 
output  was  $1,772,000.! 30  The  entire  industrial  output  of  La  Salle  in  1909 
was  worth  $5,307,551,  and  consisted  largely  of  zinc  and  Portland  cement, 
although  its  clocks  have  a  national  reputation.  Figures  are  not  available 
for  Peru ;  its  industries  are  also  very  extensive,  but  somewhat  more  diversi- 
fied, the  leading  products  being  zinc,  plows,  and  malted  liquors. 


]26Keyes,  Directory  of  La  Salle  County,  p.  275. 

mKett,   Past  and  present  of  La  Salle   County,  p.  333. 

i:iSTenth  Census,  vol.  2. 

^Baldwin,  E.,  History  of  La  Salle  County,   pp.   542-3,   1877. 

130Tenth  Census,  vol.  2. 


SETTLEMENT  AND  DEVELOPMENT  193 

The  zinc  industry  was  established  in  these  cities  because  of  several  in- 
fluences: (a)  The  upper  Illinois  Valley  is  the  first  place  where  zinc  ore, 
traveling  from  the  mines  of  southwestern  Wisconsin  to  the  eastern  markets, 
meets  coal.  In  smelting  zinc,  the  amount  of  fuel  required  is  greater  than 
the  amount  of  ore,  so  that  it  is  cheaper  to  ship  the  ore  to  the  fuel  than 
fuel  to  ore.  The  coal  fields  of  this  region  also  are  located  conveniently  for 
ore  shipped  east  from  the  Rocky  Mountain  district,  (b)  Good  transpor- 
tation is  afforded  by  several  railroads.  The  La  Salle  and  Bureau  County 
Railroad  was  built  recently  to  the  Chicago,  Burlington  and  Quincy  and  the 
Chicago  and  North  Western  railroads,  giving  the  La  Salle  smelters  the 
choice  of  four  routes,  (c)  Western  La  Salle  County,  largely  because  of  coal 
mining,  has  become  a  labor  market  of  almost  metropolitan  character. 

6.  Portland  developed  from  the  insignificant  hamlet  of  Oglesby  within 
the  last  ten  years,  and  according  to  the  census  of  1910  had  a  population 
of  3,194.  From  Bailey's  Falls  to  the  mouth  of  Vermilion  River  the  La  Salle 
limestone  is  exposed  at  the  surface.  Directly  beneath  it  lie  soft  Carbonifer- 
ous clays,  and  still  lower  is  a  seam  of  excellent  coal.  These  three  mineral 
resources  have  located  here  a  large  Portland  cement  industry.  Portland 
cement  is  made  from  limestone  and  clay,  which  are  ground,  mixed  in  cer- 
tain proportions,  and  fired.  In  this  industry  as  in  smelting  zinc,  much 
more  fuel  is  required  than  rock  and  clay.  All  these  materials  are  bulky, 
so  that  the  industry  can  be  carried  on  profitably  only  where  limestone,  clay, 
and  coal  are  associated  intimately.  Conditions  scarcely  could  have  been 
better  for  the  establishment  of  such  an  industry  than  they  are  on  lower 
Vermilion  River.  Near  the  river  the  La  Salle  limestone  underlies  a  thin 
cover  of  earth  which  can  be  stripped  off  with  ease.  The  limestone  has  an 
average  thickness  of  24  feet  and  is  underlain  by  16  feet  of  clay.  The  coal 
is  mined  by  a  shaft  adjoining  the  mills.  The  marvelous  development  of 
this  industry  has  built  the  city  of  Portland  and  stimulated  the  growth  of 
Peru  and  La  Salle,  for  the  most  of  the  men  employed  in  the  cement  mills 
live  in  the  latter  cities.  Since  1907  Portland  has  been  able  to  ship  by 
three  railroads. 

7.  Depue  during  the  last  five  years  has  been  transformed  from  a  de- 
caying river  village  into  a  thriving  manufacturing  town.  A  large  zinc 
smelter  was  established  here  recently,  which  has  the  same  advantages  en- 
joyed at  La  Salle  and  Peru.  In  1900  Depue  had  a  population  of  488 ;  in 
1910,  of  1,339. 

Rural  Conditions 

Whereas  the  mining  and  manufacturing  interests  have  developed  rap- 
idly during  the  last  thirty  years,  the  agricultural  output  of  the  upper  val- 
ley has  increased  much  more  slowly.  At  the  beginning  of  this  period  most 
of  the  arable  land  was  in  cultivation,  so  that  the  farm  area  has  grown  but 


194  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

slightly.  If  methods  of  cultivation  have  improved  gradually,  they  have 
barely  offset  the  injury  done  the  soil  by  the  long  continued  cultivation  of 
a  few  crops.  The  output  of  the  farms  of  the  region  has  varied  but  little 
in  the  last  forty  years.  The  value  of  the  crops,  however,  has  risen  steadily 
during  this  period,  largely  because  of  the  increasing  needs  of  our  rapidly 
growing  urban  population.  Better  prices  have  brought  prosperity  and  ease 
to  the  farmer,  and  also  a  tremendous  increase  of  farm  values. 

Table  3. — Value  of  farm  property 

Bureau  Grundy  La  Salle 

1860 $8,900,159  $2,673,181  $     7,979,789 

1870 18,982,291  8,005,098  26,179,442 

1880 24,343,725  8,772,875  30,893,423 

1890 24,222,290  10,541,380  36,706,880 

1900 .    37,970,986  18,141,875  58,020,553 

1910 76,034,035  37,808,965  114,911,820 

Table  4. — Valve  of  farm  crops 

Bureau  Grundy  La  Salle 

1870 $3,936,439  $1,043,965  $  5,502,502 

1880 3,978,672  1,604,366  5,223,503 

1890 3,389,410  1,305,720  5,075,930 

1900 4,799,181  2,394,580  7,201,557 

1910 7,165,497  3,774,509  10,222,235 

Farming  in  this  region  is  little  diversified,  and  the  tendency  in  recent 
years  has  been  to  still  less  diversification.  Wheat,  which  was  grown  for- 
merly in  considerable  quantity,  is  now  produced  scarcely  at  all  (fig.  69)  ; 
less  than  15,000  bushels  were  grown  in  the  upper  Illinois  counties  in  1900. 
The  great  staple  throughout  this  section  always  has  been  corn,  and  in  gen- 
eral other  crops  are  grown  only  for  rotation  purposes.  Oats,  especially, 
are  grown  in  rotation  with  the  corn,  and  constitute  the  second  crop  of  the 
region.  Hay  is  the  third  crop,  but  its  production  gradually  is  falling  off 
as  land  values  increase.  The  only  other  important  product  of  the  farm  is 
live  stock.  Since  the  development  of  Chicago  as  a  meat-packing  center,  the 
raising  of  corn-fed  cattle  has  become  an  important  item  on  most  farms. 
Many  western  range  cattle  are  shipped  in,  fattened,  and  then  sold  in 
Chicago. 

Table  5. — Farm  values  of  live  stock 

Bureau  Grundy  La  Salle 

1860 $1,294,258  $      453,082  $1,224,526 

1870 3,150,413  1,113,149  3,906,367 

1890 3,686,500  1,273,640  4,627,320 

1900 3,790,902  1,355,945  4,279,015 

1910 5,961,441  2,394,943  6,635,026 


SETTLEMENT  AND  DEVELOPMENT 


195 


Dairying  is  carried  on  chiefly  to  supply  local  needs.  In  1900  the  value 
of  the  dairy  products  was  slightly  over  one  million  dollars.  In  1909  the 
daily  products  of  the  three  counties  were  valued  at  $2,019,000. 

The  stability  of  rural  conditions  is  strikingly  shown  by  Table  6.  The 
rural  population  of  this  region  has  grown  but  slightly  in  the  last  fifty 
years.  In  1860  the  agricultural  population  was  about  as  dense  as  now,  and 
from  1870  to  1880  the  rural  sections  were  settled  even  more  densely  than 
at  present.  The  improvement  of  labor-saving  farm  machinery  has  more  than 
kept  pace  with  the  increase  of  farm  area  since  1860.    New  forms  of  labor- 


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saving  machinery  were  introduced  frequently,  and  from  decade  to  decade 
fewer  people  were  required  to  take  care  of  the  land.  In  the  last  twenty 
years  the  rural  population  has  decreased  noticeably.  Whatever  growth  of 
population  has  taken  place  in  the  upper  valley  since  1875  has  been  due  to 
its  industrial  development;  the  towns  alone  have  offset  the  losses  of  the 
agricultural  districts.  The  population  of  La  Salle  County  increased  by 
9,611  in  the  decade  1870  to  1880.  During  this  time  Streator,  La  Salle,  Mar- 
seilles, Peru,  and  Mendota  gained  9,020,  whereas  19  of  the  37  townships 
of  the  county  lost  in  population.  From  1880  to  1890  the  county  gained 
10,395;   seven  towns  and  villages  contributed  an  increase  of  13,048,  which 


196 


UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 


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202  UPPER  ILLINOIS  VALLEY 

more  than  offset  the  loss  in  24  out  of  its  37  townships.  From  1890  to  1900 
La  Salle  County  added  6,878,  of  which  the  gains  in  five  cities  made  up  5,520  ; 
during  this  decade  13  townships  lost  in  population.  From  1900  to  1910 
the  increase  of  population  in  the  county  was  2,356 ;  seven  cities  added 
6,857  in  the  face  of  heavy  losses  in  24  townships. 

The  population  of  Bureau  County  increased  by  757  in  the  decade  1870 
to  1880,  13  out  of  25  townships  losing.  From  1880  to  1890  the  county 
added  1,842.  The  coal  mines  of  Spring  Valley  and  Seatonville  attracted 
4,373  people  in  this  decade,  but  a  loss  was  registered  in  all  but  three  of 
the  25  townships.  From  1890  to  1900  the  increase  in  Bureau  County  was 
6,098.  contributed  almost  entirely  by  the  mining  towns  of  Hall  Township ; 
a  decrease  was  recorded  in  ten  townships.  From  1900  to  1910  the  popula- 
tion of  the  county  grew  by  2,863 ;  the  industrial  towns  of  the  region  added 
5,210 ;  16  rural  townships  lost  heavily.  In  Grundy  County  there  was  an 
increase  of  4,292  from  1880  to  1890,  due  to  the  growth  in  Braceville  and 
Felix  townships,  in  the  coal  region.  From  1890  to  1900  the  county  added 
3,112,  mostly  in  the  coal-mining  districts  of  Felix  and  Greenfield  townships 
and  in  Morris.  From  1900  to  1910,  14  of  the  17  townships  of  the  county 
lost  heavily,  but  the  growth  of  South  Wilmington,  Eileen,  and  East  Brook- 
lyn in  the  mining  districts  overcame  the  losses  in  the  rest  of  the  county. 

Putnam  County  shows  similar  conditions;  its  population  in  1860  was 
greater  by  841  than  in  1900,  a  loss  of  15  per  cent  in  40  years.  Between 
1900  and  1910,  coal  mines  were  opened  about  Granville,  and  the  county 
gained  2,815,  or  more  than  59  per  cent. 

In  Grundy  County  there  has  been  no  increase  in  agricultural  popula- 
tion in  the  last  thirty  years,  none  in  La  Salle  and  Bureau  counties  in  forty 
years,  and  none  in  Putnam  County  in  fifty  years.  In  most  townships  there 
has  been  a  material  decrease  for  several  decades.  In  Grundy  County,  Sara- 
toga Township  has  lost  one-third  of  its  population  since  1870,  and  six 
townships  have  fewer  inhabitants  today  than  they  had  fifty  years  ago.  In 
La  Salle  County,  Brookfield  and  Freedom  townships  have  lost  25  per  cent 
since  1870,  Dimmick  Township  38  per  cent,  Meriden  41  per  cent,  Grand 
Rapids  42  per  cent,  and  25  out  of  37  townships  are  settled  less  densely  than 
in  1860.  In  no  case  are  these  townships  regions  of  exhausted  soils  or 
abandoned  farms.  Choicer  prairie  land  or  finer  farm  homes  scarcely  could 
be  found.  The  reason  is  not  that  the  land  will  no  longer  support  as  many 
people  as  it  once  did,  but  that  agricultural  progress  has  enabled  fewer 
people  to  do  the  work  of  a  greater  number  with  more  economy.  As  a 
result,  a  good  share  of  the  population  has  moved  to  newer  lands  in  the 
West  or  to  the  cities.  As  wealth  has  accumulated,  individual  holdings  have 
grown,  and  the  number  of  farms  has  been  reduced.  The  following  table 
shows  the  increase  in  the  average  size  of  farms  in  recent  years : 


SETTLEMENT  AND  DEVELOPMENT  203 

Average  acreage  of  farms 

County                                                                1880  1890  1900  1910 

Bureau 147  158  162.3  1G0.1 

Grundy 140  149  150.9  162.1 

La  Salle 137  149  151.5  154.8 

Large-scale  farming  is  becoming  the  rule,  and  with  concentration  of  owner- 
ship tenant  farming  is  on  the  increase. 

In  all  its  history  there  is  no  more  significant  event  than  this  passing 
of  the  control  of  the  region  from  the  rural  districts  to  the  industrial  cen- 
ters, as  shown  by  the  preceding  analysis  of  its  population  statistics.  The 
new  order  of  things  inevitably  will  continue  at  least  for  a  time.  It  is 
possible  to  effect  further  economy  in  farming  by  cultivating  the  prairie 
land  on  a  still  larger  scale,  and  for  a  time  the  farm  population  there- 
fore will  decrease  still  more.  On  the  other  hand,  many  more  people  may 
be  supported  in  this  region  by  other  industries.  Only  a  tithe  of  the  coal 
which  underlies  its  western  and  southern  portion  has  been  removed.  The 
splendid  water  powers  of  the  upper  Illinois  and  Fox  rivers  remain  almost 
untouched.  A  waterway  from  the  Lakes  to  the  Gulf,  once  built,  will  give 
the  region  an  efficient  water  route.  The  location  of  the  region  on  a  great 
natural  route,  its  nearness  to  important  markets,  its  productive  farm  lands, 
its  great  supply  of  coal,  and  its  variety  of  other  raw  materials,  as  well  as 
the  permanent  power  supply  in  its  streams — all  these  physical  gifts  guar- 
antee to  it  a  continued  development.  Upon  these  material  things  is  based 
the  assurance  of  a  splendid  future  for  upper  Illinois  Valley,  in  the  realiza- 
tion of  which  factory,  mine,  and  farm  each  will  bear  an  important  part. 


INDEX 


PAGE 
A 

Agriculture,  boom  of 164,  174 

by  Indians   144 

development  of  193-203 

machinery  for 158,  190,  191,  192 

relation  of  topography  to 26-27 

Alluvial  fans 129 

B 

Barrows,  H.  H.,  acknowledgments  to.    11 

Black  Hollow  mine,  structure  in 47 

Bloomington  moraine  and  till... 75-76,  94 

Brick,  manufacture  of 

44,  58,  86,  190,  191 

Buffalo  Bock,  description  of 21 

gravels  at 95-96,   116 

Bureau  County,  coal  mining  in 188 

manufacturing  in   190 

population  of   198-199 

settlement  of.  ..150,  152,  153,  157,  186 

C 

Cambrian  history    49 

Carboniferous  strata,  concretions  in..  33 

Cement,  manufacture  of 190,  192 

<  <  Cement  beds  "    120 

Channahon,  growth  of 178 

Chicago,   Burlington   &    Quincy   Bail- 
road,  construction  of 183-184 

Chicago,    Indiana    &    Southern    Bail- 
road,   construction  of 184 

Chicago,  Milwaukee  &  St.  Baul  Bail- 
road,  construction  of 184 

Chicago    &   North  Western   Bailroad, 

construction  of    184 

Chicago,  Bock  Island  &  Bacific  Bail- 
road,  construction  of 183 

Cincinnatian     series,     see     Bichmond 
limestone 

Clays 44,  57,  58,  86,  90 

Climate,   discussion  of 14-15 

Coal  manner  of  formation  of 31 

mining  of   187-189 


PAGE 

' '  Coal  Measures, ' '  see  Pennsylvanian 

series 
Concretions,     manner     of     formation 

of    33,   120 

Conglomerate,    manner    of    formation 

of   30 

D 

Deltas 129 

Depue,   manufacturing   at 193 

terrace  at 25 

Devonian  history   50 

Drift    62-64 

Dunes,    formation    of 116-117 

Dust  deposits   117 

E 

Easterners,  immigration  of.  .148-149,  152 
Economic  conditions,  effect  of  topog- 
raphy on   27-28 

Elgin,  Joliet  &  Eastern  Bailroad,  con- 
struction of    184 

English,  westward  movement  of 

148-149,   152 

Erosive  processes 116-143 

Exfoliation,  description  of 122 

F 

Falls,  development  of 136-137 

Financial  boom   163-167 

Flood  plains,  definition  of 125 

Foreigners,  immigration  of 186 

Forests,  removal  of 140-141 

Fox  Indians,  immigration  of ;  .  .  145 

French,   coal  mining  by 188 

explorations  of   146-148 

G 

Galena  limestone,  see  Platteville- 
Galena 

Glaciation,  effect  of 82-88,  134-136 

history   of    57-115 

Glass,  manufacture  of 190-191 


(  205  ) 


206 


INDEX 


PAGE 

Gravel,  distribution  of 86-87,  99-107 

Grundy  County,  coal  mining  in 188 

manufacturing  in   190 

population  of   199-200,  202 

settlement  of 150,  153 

Gulleys,  growth  of 123-125 

H 

Health   conditions    160-161 

Hennepin  flat 103,  107-109,  116 

' '  High-level ' '  gravels    

63,  72,  77,  99-106,  120,  142 

Homestead,  improvement  of 156-158 


Ice  age   57-115 

Illinois  and  Michigan  Canal 

24,  161,  165,  167-181 

Illinois    Central    Railroad,    construc- 
tion of    181-183 

Indians,  coal  mining  by 188 

history  of    144-146 

Illinois  Indians  in  Illinois 145 

Iroquois  Indians,  raids  by 145 


Kame,   definition  of 64,   111 

Kankakee    &    Seneca    Railroad,    con- 
struction of    184 

Kickapoo  beds   64,  97-98 

Kickapoo  Indians,  immigration  of.  .  .146 


Lands,  speculation  in 163-167 

La  Salle,  growth  of 176 

manufacturing  at   192 

terrace  at    22,  26 

St.  Peter  sandstone  at 38 

tributary  valleys  at 23 

La  Salle  anticline,  coal  on 187 

description  of   46-48 

La  Salle  County,  coal  mining  in 188 

manufacturing  in   190 

population  of   195-198 

settlement  of    150,   151 

La  Salle  limestone,  description  of.  .44-45 

effect   of,   on  topography 134 

falls  over    137 


PAGE 

structure  of 47,  48 

valleys  in   139 

Limestone,  manner  of  formation  of .  .    31 

Liquors,  brewing  of 190,  192 

Loess    64-66,  81-82 

Lovers'  Leap,  description  of 21 

' '  Lower   Magnesian ' '   limestone,    see 
Prairie  du  Chien  group 

M 

Mantle   rock    57 

Manufacturing,  development  of..l89-lc>3 
Marseilles,  character  of  valley  at.  .  .  .   25 

growth  of  177 

manufacturing  at   191 

roads  at  25 

Marseilles  moraine 22, 

76-77,  79,  80,  100,  101,  110-112,  119 

Mills,  establishment  of 158-159 

Mining,    development    of 187-189 

Minooka  Ridge,  description  of 

22,  78,  79,  80,  110-112,  117 

Mississippian  history   50 

Moraine,  definition  of 66 

Morris,  growth  of 177 

manufacturing  at    191 

terrace   at 22,   25 

Morris  basin 

17,    21,    25,    27,    54,    59,    74-81, 
89,   96,   109,   110-112,   116,    117,    133 

N 

Newspapers 160,  163,  171,  190 

Niagaran  limestone,  presence  of 42 

Northerners,  control  by 151-153 


Ordovician  history    49 

Ottawa,  Fox  Valley  at 23 

growth  of   177 

manufacturing  at   191 

road  at   25 

terrace  at 22,  26 

tributary  valleys  at 23 

Outwash  plain,  definition  of 69 

Outlet  River 89,  96,  113-115 


Paleozoic  history 49 


INDEX 


207 


PAGE 

Paper,  manufacture  of 190 

Pennsylvanian  series,  concretions  in.  . 

33,  44 

clays  of 58,  75 

description  of 42-46,  75 

effect   of,   on  topography 132 

history  of  deposition  of 50 

valleys  in 138 

Peru,  growth  of 176 

manufacturing  at 192 

terrace  at 22,  25,  26 

Peru  beds 64,  72,  94-95,  121 

Physiographic  processes 116-143 

Platteville-Galena   limestone,    descrip- 
tion of 39-41 

effect  of,  on  topography 132 

history  of  deposition  of 50 

structure  of 47 

valleys  in    139 

Population   24,  195-202 

Portland,    manufacturing    at 193 

Portland  cement 45,  88,  104,  184 

Potsdam  sandstone,  depth  of 35 

Pottawatomies,  immigration  of 145 

Prairies,  settlement  of 153-156 

Prairie    du    Chien    limestone,    concre- 
tions in 33 

description  of    35-37 

effect  of,  on  topography 132 

history  of  deposition  of 50 

structure  of   47 

valleys  in 138,  139 

Princeton,  ridges  at 22 

Printing,  development  of 190 

Putnam  County,  coal  mining  in 188 

population  of 201,  202 

settlement  of 150,  152,  153,  156 

R 

Railroads 16,    181-186 

Rainfall   14-15 

Richmond  limestone,  description  of. 41-42 

effect  of,  on  topography 132 

history  of  deposition  of 50 

Roads 24-25,  88,  162 

Rutland  Hills,  description  of 22 


Sacs,  attacks  by 151 

immigration  of    145 


PAGE 

St.  Peter  sandstone,  concretions  in. 33,  38 

description  of    37-39 

economic  value  of 71,  1D2 

effect  of,  on  topography 132 

grooves  in   91-93 

relation  of,  to  glacial  deposits.  ...  103 

structure  of 47,  48 

valleys  in 138,  139 

water  from    118 

Salisbury,  R.  D.,  acknowledgments  to.  11 

Sands,   distribution   of 86-87 

Sandstone,  manner  of  formation  of .  .    30 

Seneca,  growth  of 177 

terrace  near   21 

Septaria,  description  of 44 

Shale,  manner  of  formation  of 30 

Shore  deposits,  manner  of  formation 

of 30 

Slate,  manner  of  formation  of 30 

Soils 57,  83-86,  87,  140-143 

Social  conditions,  description  of.  159-160 

effect  of  topography  on 27-28 

Southerners,  northward  movement  of 

149-151 

Speculation  in  lands 163-167 

Split  Rock,  St.  Peter  sandstone  at.  .  .    35 

Prairie  du  Chien  limestone  at 35 

Springs   117-119 

Starved  Rock,  description  of 21,  23 

Streams,  work  of 123-130 

Structure   46-49 


Temperature   14-15 

Till,  description  of 60-62 

Topography   12-28,  51-56 

Transportation   24,  161-163 

' '  Trenton-Galena ' '   limestone,  see 
Platteville-Galena 

Tributaries,  adjustment  of 127-129 

description  of   23 

U 

Upland  clay 66,  82,  84 

Utica,  concretions  in  clays  at 33 

growth  of   177 

manufacturing  at   192 

Prairie  du  Chien  limestone  at 35 

ridges  near    22 

river  bottoms  at 21,  25,  27 


208 


INDEX 


V 

Valley  flats,  development  of 125-126 

Valley  train,  definition  of 69 

description  of   109-110 

Valleys,  development  of 123-129 

variations  in 137-140 

Valparaiso  moraine 78,  110-112,  114 

Veins,  manner  of  formation  of 32 

Vermilionville,  road  at 25 

W 
Water,  work  of 117-121 


Water  power 87 

Water  supplies   86 

Weathering   121-123 

Wedron,  St.  Peter  sandstone  at 38 

Wells    117-119 

Will  County,  settlement  of 151 

Winnebago  Indians,  immigration  of. .  146 
Wisconsin  glaciation 63,  73-82,  99 

Z 

Zinc  smelting 190,  192,  193 


